Hang Me High Kid
by FearlessDranzer
Summary: For the past month Sora has been haunted by the Dead Man. After making a wish Sora's next 3 days become hell as he races around trying to save Riku and himself. Slowly Riku's obessesion gets in the way. Nothing's what it seems. Horror Violence Angst SxR
1. Of Crowns and Chains

Hang Me High Kid

By: FearlessDranzer

Disclaimers – I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the other characters that appear in this fan fiction. The only thing that is mine is this plot.

Chapter One – Of Crowns and Chains

_They say that dead men tell no tales!_

_Except of barges with blood red sails._

_Except of dying moons that break_

_The hearts of lads who lie awake;_

_And heroes crumbled and betrayed._

_Old tales of life; love and hate,_

_Of time and space, and will, and fate._

_Dead Men Tell No Tales_

8 Years Earlier

Sora giggled as he sifted through another dust-filled box in the dark attic. He watched his mother put on an old wedding dress and waltz around with an imaginary partner. She started to hum a tune to match her dancing and twirling, making the old ribbons flutter. Sora smiled, he was happy to see his mother forget about his father for once. It had been a long time since he had died, but the pictures on the walls always reminded Sora. Aerith Strife always had a dreamy look on her face when she gazed at the pictures. She would then sigh and tell Sora how much he resembled his father. And that would make her sad.

Ignoring his mother's dancing, he looked through the box again and his blue eyes caught the shine of gold. Unable to help himself, he reached a small hand in and grabbed the necklace. Suddenly his mother was there and she let out a coo of happiness.

"It's beautiful Sora! Where did you find this?" She spoke softly and her eyes sparkled and her cheeks were flushed from all her dancing.

"It was in the box Mommy. Isn't it pretty? I wonder who it used to belong to." He spoke absently and examined the gold with wide childish eyes. It was a thick chain with a delicate crown adorning it.

"It doesn't matter whose it was anymore Sora. Everyone who lived in this house died a long time ago. They're all gone. Anything left came to us when we bought the house. The necklace is rightfully yours sweetie." Aerith's eyes shone brightly and she reached over the box to hug him. Then she took the necklace from his hands and put it around his neck. "There you look so cute!"

Sora ran over to the mirror in the corner of the attic, a beam of sunlight lit up the area. "I'm handsome Mommy! Only girls can be cute! I'm not a girl." Sora complained and crossed his arms in front of his chest huffing. Sora was at that age where he thought every girl had cooties and wasn't worth talking to.

"Oh my! How could I make such an obvious mistake! Bad Mommy!" Aerith laughed and kissed her son on his forehead only to laugh again as he embarrassedly rubbed the mark away.

"Mommy you said everyone left right? But Tidus told me that our house is haunted. How can you have a haunted house if no one's there to haunt it?" Sora asked quizzically.

"Oh Sora, there is no such thing as a haunted house, don't listen to what they say. Anyway how would Tidus know if our house is haunted, does he live here? I wouldn't worry about anything Sora. There are no such things as ghost." Aerith spoke to her son seriously all trace of her former happiness was gone.

Present Day

Sora fingered the crown hanging off his necklace. It was heavy and made of gold but nothing like the kind rappers wore. No, it was more refined, it held a feeling about it that made you feel better than everyone else. Too bad that did not work most of the time for Sora. Sora was always a shy boy and his mother figured he would grow out of it, as he got older, especially with a friend like Tidus. Old habits die-hard and Sora stayed as shy as he had always been. The only extraordinary thing about him was his crown necklace.

A necklace that had always captivated countless others, maybe somewhere in their minds they knew what it really was. Sora had always had a suspicious feeling about the necklace and always wondered to whom it belonged. Which explained why he was at the library, dealing with an extremely hyperactive librarian who definitely did not fit into the setting; or it could be that he just wanted to get out of his house. The house was haunted by the way. He didn't know by whom, all he knew was that they called him the Dead Man. Supposedly, before he was murdered he had said his fateful last words, "Dead Men tell no tales."

Sora had never had any problems before with his house, at least up until a few weeks ago. Doors would open and close on their own and things would move and disappear. He would hear ghostly footsteps and occasionally the odd bump in the night. Then again he had also never believed in the Dead Man before. Now things had changed.

"Oh!" Sora snapped to attention at the high-pitched voice. "Nice necklace! It looks old! Where did you get it? Huh?" Yuffie bounced up and down on the balls of her feet, completely oblivious to how badly Sora wanted to kill her for surprising him out of his thoughts. But because he wanted to seem polite he was refraining from doing so.

"It was in my attic." It was short and sweet and to the point, just how Sora liked it.

"Hey, aren't you the kid that lives in the Dead Man's house?" Yuffie looked at him hard and shook her head making her black-bobbed hair fall into her eyes. "You must have some guts kid or else you're insane." She shrugged and finally handed Sora a map of the library with the Newspaper and Record room circled. Smiling to show his gratitude, he walked down the steps to the circled room. Going to the library for answers was something Sora would never have thought of. The only reason he was there was because he had complained to Tidus about how he wanted to know about the owner of the necklace, and the blond haired boy had suggested searching the Newspaper and Record room in the library.

Sora had been amazed, one because Tidus had made a suggestion that might actually work and two, because Tidus had suggested the library. And here Sora was thinking his friend did not know what a library was.

Passing by a mirror Sora studied his reflection; he was a fairly decent looking boy. Large sky blue eyes glittered brightly from underneath long black eyelashes and cinnamon colored hair spiked up in every direction. It was not like he was gross or overweight; girls just did not seem to be attracted to him and for what reason he could never tell. Because of his lack of girlfriends and contact with the female species in general, Sora remained shy around girls.

"I'm doomed to never have a girlfriend. I'll be taking my mother to the prom this year." Sora sighed sadly and opened the door to the Newspaper and Records room. He wondered if maybe girls didn't like him because he was so shy. A cloud of dust rose as the opening door disturbed it, causing Sora to stop thinking and sneeze.

Hours later Sora still was no closer to finding who the necklace belonged to, infact the town's history was so boring he was sure he had fallen asleep once or twice. The only interesting things were the one or two murders that happened every century. In fact one of those murders happened in his house, but he was too afraid of the Dead Man to read up on his murder.

"The Library will be closing in five minutes." A woman's voice spoke out over the speakers and caught Sora unaware; he dropped the book he was holding in fright. Placed a hand over his heart and sighed, how stupid of him to jump at an announcement. He had been jumpy ever since this morning when he had heard footsteps walking around in his attic. Sora was too tired for any more scares today. Rubbing the crown necklace, Sora unconsciously found himself wishing to meet whoever had owned the necklace before it came to him.

"I just wish I could meet that person. I want to meet them so badly; I don't care what it takes. I just… I just want someone to talk to." Sora wished on the necklace, later he would look back on that moment and realize how childish and hopeless it was. But he was lonely and no one seemed to understand how he felt, or maybe it was just some teenage angst sneaking up on him?

Sora failed to notice the necklace glow for a second that fade back to its gold color.

On his way out, Sora thanked the black haired librarian who was all too happy to squeeze his cheeks and lay a wet kiss on his cheek. Blushing profusely he said his good-byes and ran away from the waving woman. That was one girl he would never go out with, even though that was the first kiss he had ever gotten from a girl. Did it even count; it was only a kiss on the cheek? Oh well, beggars can't be choosers.

Sora looked out at the dark and angry sky and silently wished that he had brought an umbrella. It was really stupid of him to forget, he had lived in this town for almost all his life and he and everyone else there knew about the terrible hurricanes that came up the coast through their small coastal town this time of the year. Rain suddenly poured down with a vengeance and Sora pulled the hood of his sweatshirt over his head holding it down against the fierce wind that tried to take it. Gritting his teeth in annoyance Sora set off at a quick pace, he would probably be home in a few minutes. He set off walking.

Sora twirled around in a tight circle. He hated to admit it, but he was lost. Lost in his own backyard. Lost as he could possibly be, it was disgraceful, he has lived here since he was three and knew the small town inside and out. But now that he decided to take a short cut through the park he realized just how similar all the trees look in the rain. It would have been much easier if it had been the spring; all he would have to do was look for the tree without leaves or buds, the one that signaled the center of the park. In the spring that tree was always the last to get buds, it usually only started to come out of its dead state in the summer. Sadly though it was fall and every tree had leaves that were starting to turn. The only things not dying in the park were the evergreens. Sora sighed and felt like crying as another gust of wind blew fat raindrops on his face. He was just so upset between the Dead Man and the necklace and now getting lost, he just wanted to go to sleep till everything became clearer. He was so certain the library was going to help him. It wasn't like it was just some random necklace, it was found in the most famous house in the county and it was a solid gold charm with a gold chain. The only thing he could think of was that he overlooked something. Sora rubbed his eyes and pouted a little, sticking his lower lip out slightly. Today was so not his day.

Suddenly like a lighthouse standing on a cliff, his house came into view. Lights were blazing in every window, making it look like the house was on fire. Sora frowned and looked at his house closer, it made no sense that all the lights would be on. His mother was most likely still at work so she couldn't have turned them on.

Studying his house further he almost missed the movement he saw out of the corner of his eye. Startled, he looked at his bedroom and saw something move and the sway of the curtains.

A crack rang out across the lawn and Sora jumped as the wind tore a branch off a tree. Admitting to himself that he was probably safer in the house, he gathering his courage wrenched open the large iron gates at the foot of the property and ran to the front door. After searching in his pockets for a few seconds, Sora finally found the house key and opened the front door. Throwing open the door he fell to the floor in a sigh and heap of wet clothing. Unfortunately, the rain was still coming into the house so he reached up and slammed the front door closed. The ringing noise after the slam disturbed the silence and Sora suddenly felt afraid again.

Cautiously, Sora removed his shoes, rain-soaked socks, and sweatshirt and rolled the bottoms of his pants up to his knees so they wouldn't drip on his mothers prized wooden floors. He spotted a basket of clean laundry set at the foot of the stairs. Aerith only did that when she didn't have enough time in the morning to bring the clean clothes upstairs. For once Sora was glad his mother didn't have enough time in the day to do the things she needed to, it also meant Sora wouldn't have to go upstairs into his bedroom where he had seen something in the window. He would just have to spend the night on the couch. Changing into some clean pajama pants Sora felt slightly more comfortable. After a second's thought he decided to change his shirt too. He lifted the shirt up and suddenly and draft blew through the room making him shiver. Or maybe he wouldn't change his shirt.

Sora slipped some socks on his feet and padded over the cold floor to the kitchen. It suddenly seemed darker to Sora and he realized some of the lights that were on before were off. With a shiver Sora wondered if it was the Dead Man and he quickened his pace. But that was foolish thinking, his mother had told him time and time again when he was younger that the house wasn't haunted.

Bustling about the kitchen took Sora's mind off things as he warmed up the dinner his mom had left for him and put some water in a kettle to make hot chocolate. But all too soon the only thing that was left to do was to wait for everything to be ready and the topic of the Dead Man came back to Sora. With a sigh, he tried to push the Dead Man from his mind and focus on something happier. He looked around his kitchen and shivered at how big it was. In fact it was too big for two people to live in it. Before his father had died though, Aerith had always dreamed of having a big family, but she said no one could replace Cloud for her now that he was gone. To Sora the only thing left in the house were broken dreams and memories.

At least the house was warm and gracious looking. Pictures were everywhere on the walls. Aerith wanted to remember everything that happened to her so there were pictures dating from her childhood to a few weeks ago. The kettle started whistling so Sora turned the knob on the stove and poured the boiling water into a mug with the hot chocolate mix already in it. He checked the soup and it was bubbling too so he poured himself a bowlful and left the heat on low to keep it warm, just incase he wanted some more.

On whim Sora grabbed a pad of paper and a pen, while he ate his dinner he tried to write down everything he already knew about the necklace. It didn't take long, he knew next to nothing about it. The only things he was certain of was where it had be found and that if you took a magnifying glass to the left side of the crown there were the initials R.H. You think that would make it easy to find the owner, but he hadn't found anything at all about a family with a last name that matched the initials. There were a few people with a first name of R, the one that stuck out to Sora the most was a girl who had living in the house in the nineteen twenties. For some reason it struck him as a girl's necklace. Slowly his attention drifted as he wondered whom the initials R.H. belonged to. He found himself drawing crowns and rewriting the initials R.H. all over his paper.

Sora woke up with a start. When had he fallen asleep? When had he gotten in his bedroom? Wait, Sora could answer that, he vaguely remembered his mother coming home and helping him into his bed. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and pulled the blankets up to his chin. A glance at the clock told him it was a little after midnight. Stretching his back to work out the kinks, Sora frowned when he realized how cold it was in the room. The fan wasn't on though. Suddenly a gust of wind blew against his throat and he froze in shock as he felt a hand touch his neck lightly. A scream died in his throat and his eyes grew large. Who or what was touching him? He gripped the blankets tightly, embedding nail marks into his palms. There was a laugh next to him and Sora squeezed his eyes shut counting to ten before he opened them again. Upon opening his eyes he found himself staring into a pair of sea green eyes. Sora opened his mouth to scream but there was a hand blocking his mouth and the green eyes looked panicked.

"Hey, hey! No screaming. What ever you do don't scream. I won't hurt you I promise. If I move my hand will you be quiet?" Sora nodded and the person removed their hand from his mouth. Sora's lips tingled lightly.

"What are you doing in my house?" Sora slid himself up on his pillows so he was sitting upright. He felt next to him on he night table for some kind of weapon he could use. The only thing his hand closed on was a pen, he didn't know how he could defend himself with a pen but he gripped it as tightly as he could anyway.

"Whoa, calm down. I should be asking you that. You're the one in my bedroom." Upon closer examination Sora realized he was talking to a boy around his age with white hair and beautiful eyes. He was tall and Sora could see some muscle definition underneath his sweatshirt. The boy had a smirk on his face.

Sora started to blush and stammer. "W-what are y-y-you talking about? I've lived here for f-fourteen years now."

"I didn't mean it like that. I know you've been here for fourteen years but you are sleeping in my bedroom."

"What are you talking about?"

"I mean this used to be my bedroom, I was just joking with you though." He sat down at the edge of the bed and Sora notice that he was glowing softly, he wrote it off as a trick of the light though.

"Who are you? What are you doing in my house? What are you talking about?" Sora launched questions at him one right after the other.

The boy raised his hands, "Whoa, slow down. My name is Riku Heart Jenova. I told you why I was here and you know what I'm talking about. By the way you're wearing my necklace."

Sora covered the necklace with his hands and looked at Riku warily. "If it was yours why aren't the initials on it R.H.J.?"

Riku ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "That's because I don't like my last name, it reminds me of my family."

"Anyway, this can't be your necklace. No one has lived in this house for almost twenty-five years. And you don't look twenty-five." Sora crossed his arms over his chest.

Riku laughed. "You're right. I'm not twenty-five I'm only eighteen. I lived here twenty-five years ago though."

Sora looked at him with a strange look on his face. "How could you have lived here twenty-five years ago if you're eighteen right now?"

"Because I'm not living anymore."

Sora moved his mouth open and closed trying to say something but couldn't think of anything. Finally he said, "Next you're going to tell me you're the Dead Man."

"As a matter of fact— ".

Sora cut him off. "Get out of my house right now."

"Wait! No, didn't you hear me? This is rightfully my house." Riku crossed his arms over his chest. "I will not leave."

"I'll scream and than my mother will call the police. Then they will come and get you." Sora took a deep threatening breath and opened his mouth to scream.

"You're going to look pretty stupid when your mother comes in and sees you screaming at nothing."

"What are you talking about?" Sora narrowed his eyes suspiciously and started to pout. Riku smiled at him.

"I'm a ghost and you're the only one who can see me. And you're the only one that can see me because you're wearing my necklace." Riku spoke like a person would speak to a child using a condescending manner.

"That's it, I'm calling the police."

"No, please just let me prove it to you. In the attic there is a box with information and newspaper clippings. It's a box my father put together and it will answer all of your questions and you won't doubt what I'm saying." Riku placed his hand on Sora's leg taking a hold on the blankets so that Sora couldn't move.

"The only thing you're proving to me is that I talking to a crazy." Sora spoke dryly and stared at Riku with a hard gaze.

"Alright, but please just let me show it to you."

"I'm sure I would have found this box before, I mean, I've lived here for so long; it seems a little weird that I never found any box with newspaper clippings about you." Sora trailed off as he tried to remember finding any weird boxes in the attic.

"Of course you've never found it. My father hid it. There's another little storage area in the attic that's hidden by the giant mirror."

"I know that mirror." Sora paused for a second as he weighed his choices mentally. If this guy was telling the truth about being a ghost he was going to look very stupid if he called his mother and she saw nothing. On the other hand if he was lying, well Sora didn't want to think about that. With a sigh Sora nodded. "All right I'll let you show me this box but nothing funny and if you're lying to me you're going to regret it."

"Good… but can I ask you one question first?"

Sora's only answer was a nod as he got out of his bed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Where did you get that necklace?"

Sora clutched at the necklace under his shirt and turned to look at Riku slowly. "I found it." He said quickly and Riku nodded; Sora could tell he was still curious about it.

"Alright. I'll show where the box is. By the way what is your name? I didn't catch it."

"That's because I never said it." Sora replied grumpily.

"You don't have to be so mean. Besides I know you're name, you're Sora Strife. I just wanted to hear you say it Mr. Grumpy."

"I'm allowed to be mean because I'm having a weird dream where a 'ghost' is in my house trying to convince me that I'm wearing his necklace and that there is a mysterious box in a secret room in my attic and that I'm sleeping in his bedroom. I think I'm allowed to be just the tiniest bit annoyed." Sora opened the door fast so it wouldn't squeak so his mother wouldn't hear it; then he walked slowly to the attic door at the end of the hallway.

"A dream. You think this is a dream? Well I have news for you. You're going to be in one hell of a shock when you wake up in the morning and the box is there." Riku snorted and spoke with a nasty tone that just made Sora more annoyed.

"You're the one who's going to be in for the shock." Sora walked up the attic stairs and weaved his way through all the musty boxes that were piled haphazardly everywhere. A cloud of dust rose as Sora walked and he waved a hand in front of his face to dissipate the cloud. He failed to notice that unlike him, his companion did not leave any footprints in the dust. He just seemed to glide over the floor. Sora muttered to himself about how he was going to wake up soon and realize this was all just some sort of fanatical dream. Sora grabbed the edge of the mirror and gave it a yank. It didn't even budge.

"Oh well I can't move it. Too bad, guess I should go back to bed." Sora turned to leave but to his surprise Riku pushed past him and pulled the mirror out of the way all by himself. "How in the hell did you do that? For one you're a ghost and second I couldn't even get that thing to budge." Sora stared at him, a little surprised, he wasn't sure if his face showed as much surprise as he felt.

"I may be a ghost but I think the easier way to describe it is like being invisible, only you can see me. And let's just say that when I was alive I was very athletic." Riku talked to Sora with his back turned and he ran his hand along the wooded walls. There was no sign of a door.

"How come I'm only meeting you now? I mean you've been here for what thirty years and I've never found the house to be haunted until a few days ago." Sora didn't even seem to notice the way Riku ran his hands over the wall.

Suddenly there was a creaking noise and Sora stiffened, hoping it wasn't another one of the Dead Man's hauntings. In his fright Sora forgot about the question he had asked Riku. "Relax it's just the lock's moving. It has been about thirty years since this thing was last opened." A panel of wood slid over and Riku used that as a handle to slide the door open and gestured for Sora to go in first.

"How do I know you're not going to lock me in there?" Sora said suspiciously, to which Riku's only answer was to sigh and walk into the secret room.

"Will you please get in here now? And stop being so afraid of everything." Riku called out to Sora who had starting making plans to kill Riku under his breath. It seemed to escape him that he couldn't kill Riku because Riku was already dead. "My father used this as sort of an office and a place to escape his cares. My brother and I weren't allowed in but when he wasn't home we used to sneak in here and play with all his models and stuff. He used to keep all sorts of little mementos in here. You know like certificates and crap. Most of them were my brother's, but some were mine." Riku's voice trailed away and Sora knew Riku was just talking to remind himself he really was dead and so was the rest of his family. Sora almost felt sorry for him than.

Sora looked around with an expression of awe on his face even though there was a thick layer of dust on everything, the room felt so new and mysterious to him. Everything in the room held an air of enigma, there was a mahogany desk facing the west wall overlooking a small dirty window. Scattered all over the desk were pens and paper with words scribbled randomly on them. Taped to the walls were cards Riku's father must have once received, there were birthday cards and thank you cards and all types of cards. On whim Sora randomly opened one card that had a picture of a rose lying on a table on the cover. Sora stared at the cover hard, something about it disturbed him; maybe it was the fact that it was such a good drawing done in crayon like a young child had done it or maybe it was just touching something that had been very personal to a person now dead. Ignoring his uneasiness Sora read the inside of the card, it was an apology letter and it was from a boy named Riku. All it said in it was an 'I'm sorry' and 'Riku'.

Riku closed the card gently so that Sora would stop looking at it. "I made that for him a week before I died. It was an apology for just making his life so hard, you know for just being a teenager." Riku wrote it off as just an apology letter but Sora could see the sheen of water in his eyes as he turned away. Sora was almost certain that the letter meant more to Riku than he let on. But out of respect and privacy Sora chose not to pester Riku about it. Instead he let his eyes drift all around the room and to occasionally rest on an object that Riku would tell him about. The room was full of models of airplanes and buildings and even dinosaurs. Riku said he was amazed they all hadn't rotted away over the years.

"You know, I always wondered why the people before us left some many personal things in the house."

"Oh that's because it was sort of a tradition in the house to leave the original furniture and to leave something of your own stay behind when you moved or died. But in my families case there was no one else to take all the crap after we all died." Riku spoke nonchalantly as if speaking of the weather.

Finally, slightly disturbed by Riku, Sora let his eyes rest on the object he wanted to see the most. It was a large cardboard box shoved in the corner with the words 'Sephiroth and Riku' scribbled on its side.

"That's the box I was telling you about." Sora knelt down on the dusty floor and pulled the box out of the corner and towards him. He lifted the flaps and stared down at the box in surprise.

Sora had been expecting a little dingy shoebox full of newspaper clippings but in the box were pictures of Riku and another boy all the way from preschool to twelfth grade. Gingerly, Sora lifted out a picture of the other boy and stared at it quizzically. It was a photograph of a boy who looked very similar to Riku. The boy in the picture had the same white hair and a face that Riku had, but beyond that there was no similarity. Where Riku had short hair that only reached his shoulder and was layered, the other boy had long pin straight hair that was thick and fell into his eyes and seemed to trail down his back. His shoulders were broader than Riku's and he had a very severe look about him. But his eyes were the worst part for Sora; they were cold, golden colored eyes that seemed to haunt him even when he looked away from the steely gaze.

Riku looked over at what Sora was holding and froze. "Who is this?" Sora whispered.

Riku shook his head. "He's no one important."

Sora slammed his hand onto the ground and looked Riku in the eye. "Tell me who this is."

Defeated, Riku let out a sigh and his shoulders sagged. "That's my older brother."

"Is he your twin?"

"No, no we're a few months apart but we were in the same grade in school. He was always so perfect. I hated him."

Sora shivered and looked at Riku again, trying to see him from a different perspective. He didn't want to see him as Ghost Riku but as the Living Riku who hated his brother. "What was his name?"

"Sephiroth Jenova." Riku spat the words out as if they left a bad taste in his mouth.

"That name sounds kind of familiar, in fact he looks kind of familiar too…" Sora trailed off as he tried to remember where he had seen that face before. The answer was in the back of Sora's mind and as hard as he tried to remember it he couldn't. The answer was just out of his grasp.

"Well of course. His name is on almost every single record at Destiny Cove High School." Riku snarled in disgust.

"Now that you mention it, I think I have seen his name on the school records before. Did you have any records?" Sora asked ignoring Riku's nasty tone.

"Yeah." Riku said quietly.

Sora nodded. "So where are these newspaper clippings?" He asked in an attempt to change the conversation. He didn't want to deal with Riku's annoyance at his older brother.

Riku nodded as if he too were relieved to get off that topic. Riku lifted out all the photos and a few trophies and certificates. He let out a sound of happiness as he reached the bottom of the box and pulled out a few ratty looking old clippings. He went through the pile putting the ones that weren't important back in the box. When he was done going through the pile he handed them to Sora and motioned that he should read them.

Sora struggling in the darkness to make out a few words before Riku noticed and switched a lamp on, with the lights on Sora finally noticed all the cobwebs everywhere.

With a shiver he leaned over the papers and starting skimming through the first one when he stopped and looked it back over.

_Local Teen Mysteriously Killed, Police Suspect Brother_

_Local teenager, Riku Heart Jenova, of the prestigious Jenova family was murdered last week in his home on October 31. At just 17 he had yet to graduate high school but has left a huge impact on this small town. After his parents came home late Friday night from a Halloween party they found their son dead in the bathroom with large gashes all over his body. He was hanging from the ceiling and died from asphyxiation. T he brother, Sephiroth Jenova, is the main suspect in the murder since his parents came home to find him crying next to his brother's body with a bloody knife. There were bloody handprints on the walls and blood smears on the floor indicating a struggle. Oddest of all though was a message that was found on the mirror written in blood. What was said in the message has yet to be released. _

_S_ora looked at the clipping uneasily and than looked at the picture that accompanied the article, there was no questioning it, the Riku in the paper was the same Riku standing in front of him. Even though the photo was in black and white it appeared to Sora in such clarity that he fancied he could see the white of Riku's hair and the sea green of his shining eyes.

"Your brother killed you?" Sora asked in monotone. Suddenly the house felt much colder to him and he was chilled to the bone with fright. All he could do was whisper. "Is it the Dead Man? Is he here?" A cold chill always signaled the Dead Man.

"Sora, I'm the Dead Man."

"You can't be, dead men tell no tales and you're certainly telling me one. The Dead Man doesn't exist." Sora told himself reassuringly but he knew it wasn't true. Deep in his heart he wondered if Riku was telling the truth, but he couldn't accept that.

"He killed me. In this very house and in the bathroom we both shared. He slaughtered me." Riku said but he wasn't looking at Sora straight in the eye, he was gazing off out the dirty window. He certainly couldn't see out the dirty window so Sora was certain he was just staring off at nothing. Sora figured he was just upset over hearing about his murder again.

"I can't believe he killed you. I can't believe he did that. What a horrible thing to do!" Sora rubbed at his eyes because they were threatening to water.

"I thought you didn't believe I was a ghost and that I was dead." Riku said with a smug look on his face but the look was hollow and held no real emotions.

"Well so long as I'm dreaming, I thought I would play along."

"You're such a goofball Sora. And to top it off you're a terrible liar. I know you know this is real. There's no way it couldn't be."

Sora glared at him and pouted, sticking his lower lip out. "But aren't you upset that your own brother killed you?"

"He was a sick bastard. I hate him."

"That's terrible. I'm an only child—"

"I know." Riku cut in.

Sora shot him a suspicious and annoyed look but chose to ignore him. "As I was saying, I'm an only child and I always wanted a brother or sister. My mother always wanted a large family too. I just can't believe your own brother would kill you. Why would he do that?"

"I don't know. Why don't you go ask him?"

"Maybe I will."

"Have fun but that might be a little hard."

"Why?" Sora asked.

"Because he died in jail almost thirty years ago."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Sora replied quietly looking at his hands.

"Don't be, I'm not." For a second they shared an awkward moment.

"Wait, you never answered my question from before, about why I'm only meeting you now."

"I was hoping you had forgotten." Riku said with a grimace. "The only reason I showed up now is because it's the thirtieth anniversary of my death and I want you to do something for me."

"What could I possibly do for you?" Sora asked incredulously.

"I'm tired of being dead. I was hoping maybe you could help me move on. You know like in all the movies, I can't find peace within myself." Riku's ghostly glowing cheeks darkened with a blush as he spoke.

"You want me to help you find peace? I can't do that for you. That's something you have to do for yourself. I'm sorry but I can't help you with that." Sora moved to put the clippings back in the box when Riku grabbed his arm.

"Please." Riku pleaded and Sora looked into Riku's eyes and saw only utter hopelessness. "I need you to help me."

"Alright what can I do for you?" Riku let go of Sora's arm and Sora put the clippings back on his lap. He rubbed his arm where Riku had grabbed him. The arm suddenly felt as if he had put it in a pail of freezing water.

Riku smiled gratefully at him and Sora felt as if he was melting under his gaze and he had to look away. "I want you to read over these clippings for me and just tell me if something seems off to you. O.K.?" Sora nodded he perfectly understood.

"Before I do that I have some more questions alright?"

Riku nodded and sat down across from Sora. "Shoot."

"You said before twice that you were the Dead Man, were you just playing with me?"

"Me? I would never play with you Sora. I really am the Dead Man."

Sora cracked his knuckles nervously as he tried to absorb this information. "So, you're the guy all the little kids sing that rhyme about?"

"You mean the one about how dead men tell no tales and about how the hearts of lads who lie awake break? Yeah, that very one."

"Why would they say that about you? How did you become the Dead Man? Why did you haunt me?" Sora started firing off questions almost too fast for Riku to answer.

"I don't understand why they sing that about me. I become the Dead Man after someone made up that terrible poem about me. They only made it because I haunted anyone who tried to live in this house. But after you and your mother moved in I gave up on haunting. I haunted you for your attention because I needed to talk to you and the only way I could do that was if you believed in me. Although you always did believe in the Dead Man, you just didn't know it." Riku smirked back at Sora in an infuriating but cute way as he rambled on.

"Wait so you don't have a single clue why they sing that? And I do not believe in the Dead Man." Sora snorted and crossed his arms to prove his point.

"I told you that you were a terrible liar, why didn't you believe me? You believed in the Dead Man ever since Tidus sang that rhyme to you in the front yard."

Slowly Sora felt his stomach drop out and he froze. "How do you know that? How do you know so much about me?"

"You've lived in my house for how long? A ghost gets bored sometimes and you and your mother are very interesting. Especially you. I enjoy watching you." Riku spoke boldly like he was proud that he spied on Sora and his mother.

Sora shivered. "That's kind of disturbing…"

"You know from the day we're born we start to decay."

Sora looked at Riku for a long moment. "Ok, moving on. If I'm the only one who can see you because I wear this necklace, than why couldn't I see you before?"

Riku shrugged. "Because I didn't want you to."

"I thought dreams weren't so logical. But if they aren't why does this one make so much sense? I mean every time I ask a question, I always get a perfectly logical answer." Sora snorted again and his voice rose in decibel with every word.

"Sora I think you should get back to bed."

"Nonsense! I'm still sleeping, like I told you this is all a dream!"

Riku raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "Someone's a little cranky."

"How could I fall asleep with you in my house anyway?" Sora pouted again and crossed his arms over his chest in annoyance.

"What do you think I'm going to rape you or something? Newsflash Sora, I'm a ghost. Besides I don't like _little _boys." Riku said it with such hatred in his voice that Sora flinched.

In his heart Sora couldn't help but feel as if Riku's words had cut him in half. What was Sora thinking anyway? Why would Riku like a little boy like him anyway? Riku was so mysterious and jaded and Sora was just… a daydreaming-never-had-a-date-in-his-life boy. Sora let his eyes slip down to the floor and suddenly he did feel really tired. He fought to keep his eyes open but it was like he was swimming in a pool of haziness and couldn't see anything. A roaring noise started up in his ears and he tried to say one more thing before his eyes closed. His mouth wouldn't work and in his struggle he reached out for Riku's hand, but his own went right through.

"But I could touch you before!" Sora gasped out and Riku looked incredibly sad as his face swam in Sora's vision. Sora's heart wrenched and he didn't know if it was because he couldn't touch Riku or because Riku seemed so sad. Suddenly the crown necklace that hung around Sora's neck began to grow. Faintly at first but than it grew stronger, it grew so strong that Riku had to cover his eyes with his arm.

Riku gave a little wave to Sora before Sora felt himself being pulled away from the other boy and being thrust into the dark.

"And quote the Raven 'Nevermore'." Riku whispered.

Sora woke up with a start and rubbed his eyes to get the last of sleep's hold out of his system. "What the hell was up with that dream? Mom must have put something funny in the soup last night." Sora got up to change his clothes and head down the stairs for breakfast before he went to school. As he walked past the attic door his eyes strayed to it and he had the strangest urge to see those newspaper clippings and to prove if his dream was really just a dream.

"For the love of God, I can't believe I'm doing this. It was just a dream there are no hot ghost named Riku and there is no such thing as the Dead Man." Sora grumbled to himself; annoyed that he was actually going to search for this mysterious box again.

Sora climbed the stairs and stopped dead, gaping. The mirror had moved from its original position and there were footsteps in the dust leading up to it. One set of footsteps to be precise. He ran his hands around the wood just like Riku had the other night and jumped back surprised when he heard the locks clicking, just like they had done last night. The door slid open and he almost fell over backwards as he saw the room from his dream in real life. Letting out a whimper, he fell to his knees; he didn't know whether he was going crazy or he really had met a ghost last night. Sora shakily dragged himself over to the box in the corner and opened it. When he saw the disturbed dust and the picture of Sephiroth he had to stop himself from being sick right there.

Sora scrambled to his feet and ran down the stairs refusing to stop and talk to his mother who just sighed as he ran by her, barely stopping to grab his backpack. Aerith shook her head to herself; "That boy looks like he just saw a ghost."

Sora didn't stop running until he was within a block of the school. He whipped a faint sheen of sweat off his face and he sighed. His legs wobbled beneath him and he had to sit down for a few minutes. Which was fine, he was early for school anyway. A shadow fell over him and Sora looked up in surprise, he squinted his eyes against the sun to try and see who was standing over him.

"Are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost?" The figure bent over and all Sora could do was stare in shock and faint. He slumped over on the curb and just closed his eyes.

End - Of Crown and Chains

Arty – All right the next chapter is called Honesty's Curse. So please read and review! By the way this is a five-chapter story with the fifth chapter being the epilogue.

Edit – I went over this chapter again, after someone dropped a line about some errors. I hope this helps clear a few things up.


	2. Honesty's Curse

Hang Me High Kid

By: FearlessDranzer

Disclaimers – I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters that appear in this fan fiction. The only thing that is mine is this plot.

Chapter 2 – Honesty's Curse

Sora mumbled to himself as he finally came to. He pulled a wet washcloth off his forehead and sat up slowly so he wouldn't get dizzy again. Looking around, he saw he was in a strange house sitting on a sofa. The room was done in shades of dark red giving the room a very dark and oppressive feeling. Sora shivered and rubbed his hands together to try and get warm.

"Oh you're up." A deep voice said. Sora twisted around and tried to see over his shoulder to see who it was, but he must have turned too quickly because he felt dizzy again. He moaned and let his head drop into his hands. "Oh my." The voice spoke again.

Sora felt hands on his shoulders pushing him down so that he was lying on the couch again. The wet cloth was placed over his eyes and an aspirin was pressed to his lips and seconds later a glass of water.

"You must of had quite the fright my friend. When I saw you sitting down you were as pale as a sheet. And you just looked at me and fell over. I know this might sound odd, but you looked like you had seen a ghost or something." Sora could feel a warm hand over his before who ever it was got up and left.

"Will everyone just stop it with the irony already." Sora grumbled under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Oh… um… I was just wondering who you are." Sora lied, embarrassed that he had been caught talking to himself.

"Oh, I'm Kadaj. I went to Destiny Cove High School but I graduated a year ago. I'm surprised you don't remember me. We were in art together. Maybe you know my other brothers, Loz and Yazoo?" Kadaj sounded hurt and he started whining, his voice suddenly going from very deep to a higher pitch.

"Oh wait aren't you one of the triplets? I think I remember you, but you were only in my class when you had lunch detention." Sora tried to point this out in the nicest way possible without Kadaj knowing he thought he was weird.

"Maybe so! But I had so much fun in that class!" Kadaj laughed and Sora tried to roll his eyes under the cloth.

"Can I ask you a question? It's kind of weird." Sora spoke up quietly as he tried to gather his courage up to ask the question he wanted answers to.

Kadaj waved his hand and shook his head. "Go on, it can't be any weirder than what my brothers ask me."

Sora removed the cloth from his eyes and sat up slowly, blinking as the sudden sunlight bathed his eyes in its radiant phosphorescent glow. "Are you by any chance related to the Jenova family?"

"Why would you ask that?" Kadaj replied sharply, his eyes golden eyes searching Sora's face for anything out of the ordinary.

"You look exactly like Sephiroth Jenova."

"Really? And how would you know Sephiroth?"

Sora took a deep breath before he replied. He decided to tell Kadaj the truth hoping that Kadaj wouldn't think he was insane. "I met his little brother last night."

There was a sharp intake of breath from Kadaj and he nodded his head. Slowly at first and than harder, his white hair hung limply from his head and covered his eyes but Sora could still see those piercing cold golden eyes, even in the darkness. The image of them was embedded forever in his brain from Sephiroth's picture. "I was wondering where you got that necklace from. It was my little brother's."

"Oh, let me guess you're a ghost too." Sora replied sarcastically than immediately regretted it when he was fixed with a glare from those hated golden eyes. "Sorry." Sora replied in attempt to stop the glare, but it didn't soften at all.

"I'm Sephiroth Jenova, more or less. But I'm also Kadaj; I have two different spirits in one body. It's what you call a shared entity. I don't really know who I am. I am Kadaj but I'm not, I am Sephiroth but I'm not." He sat down in a chair across from Sora wringing his hands as he tried to explain it to him and to himself.

"Would you call yourself a reincarnate?" Sora asked as he tried to help Kadaj explain the situation.

"No, no actually… I do not know. I only started remembering I was Sephiroth about a month ago."

Sora's mouth dropped open. "Are you sure it was a month ago?"

"Absolutely positive, I even wrote it down. I wrote it down in a little journal that I was starting to remember a white haired boy named Riku and another named Sephiroth. Later I found out that they were brothers."

"A month ago was when I was first haunted by the Dead Man; it was when I first started to believe in him." Sora replied as he stood up and began to pace, his earlier dizziness had subsided. "A month ago was when you start to remember who you really were. I can't believe this is happening. Two days ago I would have never believed this shit, but now, I think I'll believe anything.'

"I think I understand. And you said you met Riku last night right? Did he mention your necklace by chance? Your crown necklace?" Kadaj looked eagerly at Sora and leaned forward in his chair.

"Of course, I've been wearing this necklace for the last eight years. He defiantly mentioned it." Sora reached into his shirt and pulled off the necklace so Kadaj could take it.

Kadaj looked pale and he was clutching his heart and he had a shocked look on his face. He refused to take the necklace just shaking his head and staring at it with scared eyes. "What did he tell you about the necklace? Please I must know!"

Sora stopped his pacing so he could get a better look at Kadaj and what he saw frightened him so he sat back down. "He didn't really say anything about it. He just said it was his and allowed me to see him."

Kadaj shook his head and his eyes got a hollow haunted look. Sora couldn't tell which look was worse, the haunted golden eyes or the serious glaring golden eyes. Both sent a shiver up his spine. "Riku is a liar, a fool and criminally insane. You shouldn't listen to a word he says."

"Why would you say that?."

"Please believe me. He's lying through his teeth to you. That necklace is the source of the Dead Man's Curse."

"Riku told me he was the Dead Man though, was he telling the truth than?"

"Yes, he is the Dead Man."

"Wait, why is he the Dead Man?"

Kadaj shook his head and looked sadly out the window at the empty street, the only thing moving was a leaf that danced in a whimsical way. "I'm afraid I can't tell you that. You see, it's part of the Curse. I'm not allowed to speak about the death."

"What is this curse?" Sora asked, he was interested now and he was ready to believe anything Kadaj said.

"When someone dies in the grip of a powerful rage, a curse is born. It gathers in that place of death and those who encounter it will be consumed by its fury. The necklace holds the Dead Man's curse. You wore the necklace, therefore you are cursed, and everyone involved with Riku's death is cursed. I'm cursed because I was there when he died." Kadaj spoke with urgency as if he had to tell Sora this all really quickly before something terrible happened.

Sora's eyes glanced at the floor; he couldn't meet Kadaj's eyes. "Did you say that you were there when he died? I hope this doesn't offend you but didn't you do much more than just being there? Didn't you kill him?"

"I did much more than just sit there and watch. but in no way did I hurt him or try to kill him. I'm sorry but I can't say anymore than that." Kadaj looked around franticly as if expecting something to appear and he urgently whispered in Sora's ear. "Go talk to Cid, he knows something that might help you." Kadaj got up and started ushering Sora to the door all the while looking franticly around. "Please you must leave, it is not safe." A banging noise came from upstairs and all the color drained from Kadaj's face and Sora let out a whimper. "The curse." Kadaj breathed.

"What happens when you are consumed by its fury? Please I need to know what will happen to me!" Sora clung to the doorframe as Kadaj tried to push him out and looked franticly over his shoulder. At the foot of the stairs there was a black shadow pooling as the rest of it steadily dripped down the stairs and around the railings. Sora whimpered again but refused to let go of the doorframe.

"You'll die, you'll die the same way Riku did, you'll relive his death and you'll die too. You'll die when he died, tonight at midnight. I will die too. And the curse will live on and consume the next person who puts the necklace on. Unless you can break the curse by figuring out what happened tonight thirty years ago. Please, you must go now! It is not safe."

Sora let go of the doorframe but before Kadaj could close the door he yelled a question out at him. "You'll be alright won't you?" Kadaj smiled and leaned forward to kiss Sora on the lips before he closed the door in his face.

Sora stood shaking on the steps, a hand to his lips as he felt them tingle from the pressure of the kiss. That for sure had to be his first kiss and it was from his crush's older reincarnated brother. Sora looked back at the house and shook his head, he couldn't hear anything coming from inside. He glanced up at the upstairs window and he could see Kadaj standing there watching him and for a second he swore it wasn't Kadaj, but Sephiroth who was glaring down at him. Without a second thought Sora turned around and ran down the street, he only stopped when he reached the corner.

Sora gasped for air as he leaned against a stop sign; he looked back at Kadaj's house, but from the outside it looked perfectly normal but he knew that inside it was a dark evil force. Sora shivered and thought back to what Kadaj told him.

He had to go find Cid.

It wouldn't be too hard, there was only one Cid in the whole town and everyone knew who he was. He the town mechanic and had a daughter Sora's own age named Rikku. Rikku was also friends with Yuffie the super hyper librarian. Sora sighed and hoped Yuffie wouldn't be there.

Sora ran a hand through his spiked hair and pulled his sweatshirt tighter around himself as it grew unseasonably cold for late October. He walked briskly down the street and a few minutes later arrived in front of Cid's ranch styled house. Sora glanced down at his watch to check the time and was shocked to realize he had completely missed school and that it had been over for half hour. He must have been unconscious for a while.

Taking a deep breath he steadied himself and gathered the courage to ring the doorbell and not run away. He heard running footsteps and giggling and knew right away that it wasn't Cid who would be answering the door.

The door was pulled open and a honey haired girl skipped out with a black haired girl giggling behind her. Sora groaned inwardly, Yuffie was here.

"Hi Sora! Can I help you?" Rikku giggled and yelled out in her high-pitched voice.

"Actually," Sora fidgeted and played with a string hanging off his sweatshirt, refusing to meet Rikku's eyes. "I'm here to see your father."

Rikku nodded and held up a finger. "One moment please while I get him! Yuffie invite Sora in 'kay?" Rikku skipped away her miniskirt swayed as she went towards her garage.

"Sora!" Sora gulped and readied himself for some more of Yuffie. "Come on in! I didn't think I'd see you again so soon! Did you find what you were looking for at the library?" To Sora's surprise Yuffie was actually better behaved now than when she was out working. Yuffie led Sora into the kitchen and motioned for him to sit down at one of the seats. "Do you want some hot chocolate? Rikku and I just made some."

"Um, yes please. I didn't find what I was looking for at the library, that's why I'm here now. I'm hoping Rikku's father might be able to help me." Sora felt more at ease now that Yuffie was behaving and he steadily started to relax and become less shy.

"Hey, maybe I can help you! Believe it or not I read a lot. So what were you looking for? Yuffie handed him a mug of hot chocolate and sat down in the seat next to him crossing her boot and thigh high stocking covered legs. Sora had to admit her fashion sense was a little weird. She wore black shorts and tank top with boots and high socks and a headband holding her short black hair out of her eyes. She looked really tiny and helpless but Sora could vaguely remember hearing a rumor about her being a black belt in a few types of karate. Sora realized Rikku and Yuffie got along perfectly in looks and personality, he couldn't imagine better friends.

They were both extremely hyperactive and popular and each had weird hobbies, karate, ninja arts and stealing. Rikku had once stolen the answers to a final exam without getting caught. But she returned them because she just wanted a challenge, not the answers.

Rikku came skipping into the kitchen. "Pop will be here in a second Sora! He's just got to finish tightening a few screws on his latest project."

Yuffie giggled. "Grab a seat Rikku, Sora was just about to tell me what it is he wants to know." Rikku clapped her hands together and jumped into a vacant seat.

"Tell, tell!" She yelled in her girly voice, her arms waving around in the air like they always did when she was excited.

"What the hell is all the screaming about Rikku? You're going to shatter the damn glass in a second." A voice grumbled and a tall, stocky blonde haired man whipped his hands on a greasy towel he was holding before throwing it in the sink and taking the last remaining chair. "So Rikku, you said someone was here to see me."

Rikku nodded. "Pops, Sora is here to see you."

Cid lifted one eyebrow as he examined Sora, measuring him with his eyes. "Alright kid what the hell do you want?"

Sora was put off by Cid's abruptness but Sora couldn't really feel any malice behind the words so he thought maybe it was just Cid's manner. "Um… well someone told me to come to you and ask you some questions."

"Someone told you eh? Well who's this _someone_?"

"Pops! Don't be mean!"

"That's not really important." Sora spoke cautiously he didn't really want to tell Cid that Sephiroth Jenova, who had been dead for thirty years sent him to ask for answers to help him solve the Dead Man's Curse. He didn't need anyone thinking he was insane. "I wanted to ask about Riku and Sephiroth Jenova. I was told you could help me."

Cid turned his head towards Sora and gave him a queer look while Yuffie and Rikku just looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders. "What would you want to know about them for?"

"Well he does live in the Dead Man's house and that's where the Jenova family used to live." Yuffie offered to Cid with a matter of fact manner. Rikku nodded to enforce the statement and all Cid could do was look back and forth between the two and wonder if they were secretly separated at birth without him knowing.

Cid nodded. "I used to know the younger brother, mutually of course, you see I was a few years older than him and had just met your mother Rikku, I wasn't friends with Sephiroth though. He was a little uptight, full of himself, the stupid bastard. I knew Riku because he had for about a month worked at the mechanic shop that I managed. He quit pretty soon after he got the job, he was more interested in sports and drawing. Believe it or not that delinquent was quite the artist."

"I know. I saw some of his art at my house." Sora replied thinking back to the card Riku had made his father. "But please tell me more about the brothers and what you know about Riku's death."

"Ah, well I already said Sephiroth was full of himself, but he was also very quiet and refused to talk to anyone. We thought it was because he considered himself too good to talk to any of us. He treated Riku like garbage, like he was just some annoying pest that he was trying to swat away. More often than not he just ignored the kid. I remember one day when I was young hearing Riku beg Sephiroth to play with him and than hearing a slapping noise than some crying. Riku came to school the next day with the most hideous bruise on his face. I was ready to slug his bastard of an older brother. I can see why Riku grew up hating his older brother and wanting to get out of his shadow." Cid looked off into the corner, reminiscing about the past.

"That's terrible! Why if Brother ever hit me you would kill him!" Rikku yelled slamming her hand on the table. Yuffie put a hand on Rikku's arm to reassure her friend.

"Damn right I would. But anyway, I believe that when Riku was younger he hero-worshipped his big brother, but when he grew up he just got sick and tired of everything. The boy was a nervous wreck all the time, always looking over his shoulder as if he was looking for something. I think he was looking for Sephiroth, anytime Riku ever achieved anything it was overshadowed by his perfect prep of a brother. God, I grew to hate that son of a bitch and he never even did anything to me. You could hate him for just being alive."

"Let me guess, all the girls loved him and he snubbed every single one of them. He was in all honors and was on the varsity football team." Yuffie said dryly.

"You're damn right he was."

"Sephiroth's name is on a lot of school records." Sora put in.

"Yeah, well like I said he was perfect. He did football, wrestling and in the spring to stay in shape he ran track. The only problem was Riku's field of expertise was running, track and cross-country. So you can just imagine what it was like at track in the spring. I'll tell you, I remember him coming to work one day just dragging himself in, he looked like someone beat the crap out of him. So I asked him what was wrong and he just shrugged and said 'another lovely practice between me and my brother'. I was worried about him so I watched a practice one day and it was terrible. Sephiroth could run five miles flat in a time that would make an Olympic Champion cry, and without even breaking a sweat! So Riku tried to keep up with him just to prove he was just as good as him. His coaches were no better they worked him to the bone thinking he was a good as his brother."

"That's terrible." Sora whispered.

"That's not even the worst of it, every record Riku set, Sephiroth broke. Ran Riku's time right into the goddamned ground he did. Riku also never got any slack at home or at school. Everyone always pressured him to be better or just as good as his brother."

"I'm surprised the poor guy didn't just snap, _pop_!" Rikku said seriously, in any other situation it would have been pretty funny.

"Heh, God knows he did. I caught him my fair share of times sitting out in the park crawled in a ball just shaking. Of course I never told him or anyone else what I saw. I felt bad for the kid. I tried to tell him his brother was a sick unnatural bastard. No one can be that good." Cid said back in his chair and put his feet up on the rungs of Rikku's chair. "The only thing Riku considered himself the best at was drawing. But he didn't really count drawing as one of his talents. He said he didn't consider himself good enough; he was embarrassed that he could draw but not score a touchdown. But I'll tell you I have never seen better art before in my life than when I saw his art. I don't think he ever showed any one else all his drawings he was so embarrassed of them."

"What did he draw?" Sora asked as he rubbed his hands together. He was learning more about Riku and the more he learned the worse he felt about how mean he had been to him the night before.

"Oh damn near anything. His favorite things to draw were people. He drew his mother over and over and his father a few times. He drew damn near everyone he even drew me! The only person he didn't draw was his brother. He never mentioned his brother unless he was upset. It was like he tried to pretend his brother didn't exist."

"Please tell me what you know about his death." Sora asked urgently as he gripped the table so tightly his knuckles turned white and the two girls nodded enthusiastically.

"I don't know too much. I was out of town at the time you see. I do remember what happened before and after quite vividly. Before I left Riku spoke to me about how he was so mad at his family. He wouldn't tell me why though; I figured it was just an argument about how he didn't want to be like Sephiroth. You see Riku had those types of arguments with his parents very often. I could hear the screaming from my house and I lived down the street at that time. One of the things that stuck out to me the most though was him saying he just wanted to die. I remember being really afraid of him for saying that, but I convinced him not to think like that. At least I think I did, I mean we had quite the talk after that. When I came back from my aunt's house the first thing I saw was Sephiroth walking down the street like a zombie. I remember everyone talking about something like it was the biggest piece of gossip in the world! I had no clue what they were talking about, but I did as soon as I picked up the paper and on the front page there was a smiling photo of Riku taking up the cover. I could feel my stomach drop, I mean I have never felt a more frigging ominous feeling than I did when I saw that picture. I just knew he was dead. After that I saw two cops dragging Sephiroth away and into a car. I never saw him again; I think he died in jail."

"Sephiroth murdered Riku didn't he Pop?" Rikku asked.

"That's what they say. I just remember saying to your uncle Zell how it was funny Sephiroth killed Riku because it seemed like he enjoyed making his life miserable and killing him would just put him out of his misery. The only thing Zell ever said on the matter was, 'you always have to look out for the quiet ones.'" There was silence for a second and Sora was surprised none of the girls broke it with their chatter.

"That's kind of weird now that you mention it." Rikku rubbed her chin as she pulled a face as she tried to think.

"Was that what you wanted to ask Cid, Sora? You wanted to know about the Dead Man before he was well umm dead?" Yuffie replied as she too took on a thoughtful face.

"Well I have another question too." Sora replied and he pulled his necklace out of his shirt and over his head before handing it to Cid. "Does this necklace look familiar to you?"

Cid's eyes didn't leave the necklace for a long time and he looked suddenly older and paler. "Damn right it does. Never thought I see that thing again. I figured they buried him in it."

"So it was Riku's?"

"Yup, it's got the initials on it R.H. right?"

"Yes for Riku Heart."

"Than you'd better believe it's his. He never went anywhere without it. He said some relative gave it to him when he was born. He didn't really seem to know too much about it." Cid grimaced as he thought.

"Hey Sora I thought you said you found that necklace?" Yuffie asked suspiciously. "You aren't grave robbing are you Sora?"

"I did tell the truth, I found it in a box in my attic with a wedding dress." Sora replied in his defense.

"I believe you. His brother probably hid it. I wouldn't put it past the bastard." Cid grumbled.

Sora looked at his watch and raised an eyebrow as he realized it was now six o'clock. He was starving and hadn't eaten all day. "Thank you for this talk Sir. I really appreciate it. I have to go home now though my… umm mother will be expecting me." Sora lied, his mother was still at work.

"You're welcome son. Rikku please show him the way out?" Cid said as he got up and grabbed his cloth out of the sink and disappeared back into the garage to tinker.

"Sora thanks for stopping by. It really was interesting! You'll have to come by soon!" Rikku waved him off as he walked down the driveway before sighing to Yuffie. "Isn't he so cute! I love his eyes and he's so shy!" She squealed. Yuffie giggled and nodded her head in agreement.

Sora unlocked his front door and threw his backpack down with a sigh. He couldn't deny that he felt bad for skipping school but he was glad in the end that he did. He was also very upset with a certain white haired ghost. He couldn't believe Riku would lie to him about so many things. Sora wondered maybe it wasn't that Riku wasn't telling him the truth but maybe wasn't telling him the whole truth.

Maybe Riku really wanted to find peace, but than why wouldn't he tell Sora he was going to die because he had been wearing a cursed necklace for the past eight years? Sora wasn't too sure of the situation but he was sure that he was going to find out the truth.

Sora took some of the leftover soup from the other day and heated it up again. He didn't even mind that he was having the same thing again; right now the soup was heaven to his starving stomach. Sitting at the table Sora slowly ate his soup as he ran through what he had learned again. While he was thinking his eyes strayed over to the notepad he had been writing on the other day. Written underneath what he had written down yesterday was the phrase 'I'm sorry'. It wasn't his mother's handwriting and all Sora did was shake his head.

"It seems to me that you say you're sorry a lot." Sora mumbled out loud as he picked up his abandoned pen and wrote a few more bullets of information down, mainly what he had learned and his suspicions.

_Necklace belongs to Riku Heart Jenova_

_Riku is the Dead Man and was murdered here thirty years ago_

_Sephiroth Jenova murdered his brother_

_Riku never said anything about the curse_

_Something is suspicious about all of this_

Sora tapped his pencil on the table and scowled at his last bullet, he wondered what made him so incredulous about the whole situation. Than again anyone would have their suspicious if they were in his place, it's not everyday you find out you're cursed and that a ghost lives in your house with you.

Kadaj suddenly popped into Sora's head and Sora quickly wrote down another bullet about Kadaj and how he was Sephiroth.

_Kadaj is Sephiroth_

_We both started having weird things happen to us a month ago_

After cleaning up his mess Sora took the notebook upstairs with him and into the computer room adjacent to his mother's bedroom. He booted up the computer and it started making whirring and clicking noises as it came out of hibernation. Opening up a search engine Sora typed in the words Riku Heart Jenova and sat back to see what came up.

A few articles popped up, most of them were about his murder but Sora found a number that were articles about Riku's talents in running and his winning of some art competition. Sora sighed, there was nothing here that could help him figure out the truth.

The only thing that might help was talking to Riku himself. The only problem was he didn't know how to find Riku to talk to him. With a sigh Sora rubbed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, balancing it on two legs.

A picture of Riku popped up on the computer after Sora clicked a link. It was a photo of Riku smiling as he leaned over after finishing first in some race. Sweat drenched his body and ran down his face but you could tell he was too happy to care. He wore a smile on his face that looked as if he had forgotten all his troubles. Sora ran a hand down the outline of Riku's check and sighed. Riku was too pretty to be real. Every time Sora looked at him his heart clenched and he felt as if someone was squeezing his heart. Just crushing it between their fingers and laughing at every wince of pain of Sora's face. Sora couldn't help but daydream about him and Riku, but than he snapped to his senses. Riku had even told him he didn't like him. 'I don't like _little_ boys' Riku sneered in Sora's mind.

Sora shook his head to clear it and decided to go back into the attic and look through Riku and Sephiroth's box. Climbing up the creaking attic stairs made Sora slightly weary as he thought of the Dead Man. For some reason Sora couldn't picture Riku as the Dead Man, haunting him and stalking him in the comfort of his own home. Feeling around the walls Sora got the door to open to the secret room and he opened the box again.

This time instead of skipping straight to the articles in the bottom Sora took his time and went through everything, examining the box as if it held the lost riches of Cleopatra Queen of the Nile. Sora pulled a baby book that showed both Sephiroth and Riku. It featured only the first few years of their lives though and after that pictures were just shoved in the back of the book without a care for their well-being. Sora watched the brothers grow up before his very eyes and was surprised at how alike they looked when they were younger. But then at age ten Riku chopped off his long hair, in fact at the bottom of the box was a bag of his hair, his beautiful hair. There were locks in it over ten inches long and written on the bag was the date Riku had his hair cut off. Sora lovingly stroked the locks of hair. Before moving on to the numerous awards that belonged to the two boys. There were awards for grades, sports and leadership. Sephiroth's awards outnumbered Riku's awards five to one. Sora looked at Riku's awards but after a while grew tired of watching Sephiroth get the same awards and outdoing Riku and beating him badly. In between a few of Riku's certificates there were drawings all of them labeled as gifts to his parents for Christmas, birthdays and Mother and Father's day. One of the drawings was a painting and was labeled as Lucrecia Jenova and had to be Riku's mother because he could see the similarities in their eye color and facial structure. The other drawings were of random landscapes and a few of other people.

Sora sighed and wished he had a picture like this from Riku. He ran a finger over the picture and felt his eyes well up. He was angry with Riku for lying to him but was angrier with himself for still liking Riku even though, he was such a liar. Sora wondered how he could still be attracted to that monster of a boy. Maybe it was the fact that he was so good looking or maybe it was the fact that he was so untouchable to Sora. He was so unobtainable that Sora was automatically attracted to him.

It could be Riku's personality but that just served to annoy Sora even though he was certain that given time he could grow to get used to Riku's attitude. Although Sora couldn't deny the tingling feeling he got in his stomach every time Riku let loose one of his characteristic smirks and smiles.

Sora also couldn't deny that he was totally obsessed with Riku. Riku, Riku, Riku! His name, his smile, his hair even the way he said 'Sora'. Everything just served to make Sora fall even harder for the dead boy. He also couldn't get away from the sadness he felt every time he remembered that Riku was dead and they couldn't ever be together. No matter how much Sora loved him it couldn't bring Riku back to life.

Suddenly he felt a feeling of animosity. It wasn't him who felt angry it felt like someone else in the house was angry. It was like the feeling of intense hatred was tattooed in every floorboard and every crack in the wall. The malice made Sora feel as if he were drowning in the feeling and he felt afraid again. He wasn't afraid of the Dead Man, he was afraid of something far more sinister, something more like the thing he saw in Kadaj's house. He shivered and placed everything back in the box before turning and running out of the attic.

He had no desire to stay in the attic; hell he didn't even want to stay in the house he wanted to get as far away as he possibly could. Taking the steps two at a time Sora tried to flee out of the house but the front door was locked and in his haste he couldn't unbolt the door.

"Hey what's the rush?" Riku's deep baritone voice resonated in the hallway. And he placed a hand on the doorframe so he was leaning over Sora's cowering figure.

Sora spun around and let out a small scream as his heart beat harder than it ever had in his life. "I swear every time I see you, you're always too scared to even breathe." Riku drawled, his eyes laughing at Sora.

"There is something in the attic. Something evil. It's the same thing that was in Kadaj's house. It's the curse. The Dead Man's Curse." Sora spoke tears running down his face.

All Riku did was look at Sora in shock and shake his head, lips trembling and hands shaking. The look of laughter in Riku's eyes died.

End – Honesty's Curse

Arty – Yes! Two out of five chapters! O.k. this chapter was a little random with Sora going a lot of places in a small amount of time. But the next one stays a little closer to home with Sora not leaving his home at all! But time is running out for Sora, tonight is the anniversary of Riku's death! Next chapter is A Dying Moon.


	3. A Dying Moon

Hang Me High Kid

By: FearlessDranzer

Disclaimers – I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters that appear in this fan fiction. The only thing that is mine is this plot. The images drawn by Riku are property of Mythchan on Deviant Art.

Chapter 3 – A Dying Moon

"You're just imagining things." Riku whispered huskily in Sora's ear and Sora shivered and another tear trickled down his cheek. Sora hiccupped.

"No there is something up there!" Sora screamed and he started to beat at Riku's hand so he could open the door. "We have to get out now!"

"Stop, stop Sora there is nothing up there! I'm the only other thing in this house!" Riku yelled trying to stop Sora's nervous breakdown by grabbing his waving frantic hands.

"No." Sora's eyes got large and a cold feeling grew in the pit of Riku's stomach. "It's up there. Something is up there. I've seen it; it's like a shadow. I saw it in Kadaj's house."

"Who's Kadaj?" Riku asked softly.

"Kadaj, he is a boy at my school but he says he's really Sephiroth. He_ is_ Sephiroth, he remembers you." Sora asked looked at Riku's face searching for a flicker of emotion.

But Riku's face remained strangely emotionless; he looked like a doll without any emotion on its porcelain face. His eyes were like the cruel mask of an ice maiden and his smile was frigid. "Sephiroth is a liar, a fool and criminally insane."

"Funny he said the same thing about you."

"He's a liar!" Riku screamed.

"No I think you're the liar." Sora stated in a cold voice that was very unlike him. "You've lied to me. You've lied to me and you're going to let me die!"

"Oh is that what the bastard told you? Well he's a murderer! Who are you going to listen to? Me who's perfectly sane and normal or my lying bastard of a brother who murdered me?" Riku yelled back as he slammed Sora into the wall, holding him up so that his feet barely scraped the ground.

"I don't think you're 'perfectly sane', normal or otherwise. I don't think you're brother killed you. But I do know that you have been lying to me, or at least not telling me the whole truth." This time Sora spoke softly as if he were talking to a young child and explaining something very complicated. Sora just hoped that the change of tone might calm Riku down or it might just add fuel to the blazing inferno.

"I did it to protect you." Riku grated the words out and left go of Sora so that he fell to the floor in a crumpled heap.

"You did it to protect me? Some protecting you do. I'm still going to die tonight!" His rapidly growing red face was furious and he was shaking with the intensity of his hatred and unhappiness.

"You don't understand do you? You'll never understand. You're the one thing I have that my brother can never lay his filthy hands on. That sinner will never touch you." Riku spoke in a detached manner with a perverse longing in his eyes. "We'll be together forever Sora, don't you see?"

Sora shook his head with eyes wide open; he was horrified. Riku had known he was going to die and he was happy, in fact he had been planning on Sora's death! Sora's death would trap the two of them together forever in a martyrdom of misery.

"You see Sora when some one dies in the grip of a powerful rage, a curse is born. It gathers in that place of death and those who encounter it will be consumed by its fury."

"I know." Sora said numbly.

"You and I can live together in peace without my brother budding in. We can live secretly away from your society!" Riku laughed and cradled his head in his heads in a crazed way. Just looking at him disturbed Sora; he didn't even attempt to understand the nonsense Riku was spewing.  
"You're psychotic. Get away from me! There is something wrong with you." Screaming was Sora's only attempt to get Riku to stop with his rambling.

He let out a whimper and tried to move closer to Sora and touch him on the cheek but Sora slapped his hand away with a resounding crack. A pained expression came over Riku's face like that of a wounded animal and slowly Riku started to fade out.

"The last act is always bloody, no matter how fine the play." Were the last words Riku spoke as he completely faded out.

Even after Riku was gone Sora couldn't get that eerie look out of his mind. Letting out a sigh, Sora began to shake and his shoulders to heave and he cried out every last tear his body manufactured.

He was cursed.

He was going to die tonight.

And he was madly in love with a psychotic dead man.

He was attracted to everything about Riku, his looks, his personality and his actions.

Sora took a precarious breath and held it till he was sure his world wasn't going to come crashing down on him and crush him to a bloody mess. Then he released his held breath in a whoosh of air that made his body sag.

Heaving himself up he leaned against the door to stop himself from hitting the floor again. Stumbling into the kitchen Sora sat himself down at the table before letting his head fall on to the table with a bang. After a few minutes Sora groaned at the nagging sensation at the back of his head.

It was driving him crazy. It was the feeling you get when you can't remember something, but it is so blatantly obvious when you do remember it. The nagging! The incessant nagging was like an itch that you could not scratch.

Sora decided that since he couldn't remember what was irritating him he would just try and jog his memory. Sitting back in his chair Sora rested he chin in his hand and let out a bothered groan. Maybe it was about something someone said to him? Could it have something Cid or Kadaj said? Maybe it was something he saw in the attic? What had Yuffie said to him before that surprised him? She had said she was a good reader and loved books. Maybe what Sora couldn't remember was something he had seen at the library that was important? For some reason that idea made the most sense to him. so he got ready to go get his coat and shoes on when he noticed it was almost nine thirty at night. The library had been closed for an hour.

Sora let out a curse and allowed his head to drop to the table again. He started making circles on the table, tracing the marks in the wood. He could go back on the computer and search again for the articles pertaining to Riku but from some reason he didn't really think he would find his answer there. He could search for something else on the computer though. He could search from the Dead Man.

After all Sora had learned he was convinced Riku was the Dead Man or else everyone who told him that was deluded.

But if Riku was the Dead Man, why was he the Dead Man? No one seemed to know why Riku was called the Dead Man and no one seemed to know where the poem about the Dead Man came into play. In fact very few people seemed to know it was Riku who was the Dead Man at all. The murder was not an open subject for his little town.

Riku had said he didn't know and Kadaj himself had backed up the statement. But what if… what if that was part of the curse? Maybe they couldn't tell him because it was part of the curse? But did that mean that the curse was connected to the urban legend of the Dead Man? So far he had only been told that the curse was the result of Riku's anger in death.

Didn't the legend mention something about dead men telling no tales? And Kadaj and Riku had not been able to talk about the murder. _Dead men tell no tales._

Sora jumped up and ran to the computer room faster than he had ever run before and slid himself down into the seat and clicked open a search engine. He knew what he needed to look for, what had been annoying him was the Dead Man and his little poem. Swiftly Sora typed in 'dead men tell no tales' and waited to see what popped up. He only had to wait a few minutes before he found a promising site.

It was a one-person operated site about urban legends around the world and Sora had just hit the jackpot. One of the pages on urban legends was about the Dead Man. It listed information Sora already knew about who the Dead Man was suspected to be and where the Dead Man legend originated. The legend started to gain popularity right after Riku's death and it just confirmed Sora's beliefs about Riku.

A little below that information was the legend itself:

_Dead Men Tell No Tales_

_They say that dead men tell no tales!  
Except of barges with blood red sails._

_Except of dying moons that break The hearts of lads who lie awake;_

_And heroes crumbled and betrayed._

_Old tales of life; love and hate,  
Of time and space, and will, and fate._

Sora quickly grabbed paper and a pen and started writing down the legend as fast as he could. He scanned over it and then felt as if someone had touched his heart with an icy cold hand, stopped and read it over again. _And heroes crumbled and betrayed._ Those heroes were Riku and Sephiroth. They were good sons, smart, athletic and nice people once you got to know them. Weren't those all the classic qualities of a hero? The betrayal part was a little harder to figure out. Even though it went against his better judgment Sora figured the betrayal was when Sephiroth killed Riku. And as for the dead men not telling any tales for the most part Sora figured that was true. But apparently even though dead men tell no tales this one was. Riku was telling a tale about life, love, hate and time and will and space.

Well that could basically describe Riku's life and death. Everyone loves and hates though. And what about dying moons? What are dying moons? On whim Sora looked out the window and saw the moon was full, so how could it be dying? It was at its most powerful stage. Maybe the poem wasn't about tonight, but maybe about the night Riku died? Didn't Kadaj say thought that he would die the same as Riku did? So than why would this not fit in with the pattern?

Sora tried to think outside the box. A dying moon might not be about the moon at all. It could represent symbolism but if it did, Sora would never find out what it meant. Sora never was one for poetry and symbolism. It was always his weak point. He decided that for now he would just ignore that part of the poem and move on to the next.

Breaking the hearts of lads who lie awake was the next line and Sora was as stupefied by that one as he was by the last one. In general he had heard no mention of love at all in the stories he had been told by Cid, Riku and Kadaj. And who was lying awake with their heart breaking?

Sora almost froze and he dropped his pencil with a whimper. He was in love with Riku and slowly as the minutes ticked by his heart was breaking into irretrievable little pieces. He had been trying to hold himself together but he realized all he was doing was giving himself false hope. Riku had told him he didn't like little boys but Riku had also said they could live together far away from society. Sora only issued one sob before breaking down into heaving cries that shook his whole body.

How could he delude himself with thoughts that he could possibly ever live happily with Riku? He couldn't just leave life behind and die. Even though he would love to stay forever with Riku, he was still living. His mother, he was all his poor mother had left and losing him would probably kill her. Tidus and Kairi would miss him. He would miss them too, even Rikku and Yuffie.

Sora was shaken out of his thoughts by a ringing noise and he jumped up in surprise. With his heart pounding he realized it was only the phone and he tried to compose himself before he picked it up.

"Hello." Sora asked, he hoped his voice didn't sound as shaky has he thought it did.

"Sora?"

"Um… Yes. How may I help you?"

"Sora! It's Kadaj."

"Oh Kadaj. I didn't even know it was you. You sound completely different. Like your voice is deeper somehow."

"That's because it's Sephiroth's voice I'm using not mine." Sora could hear the urgency in the way Kadaj spoke.

"What's the matter?"

"I think I have something that may help you. I don't know how much I can say but did you look up any school records or hospital records for Riku and Sephiroth?" "Actually I looked up the school records for them and they were all pretty amazing. I don't think I've ever seen more talented people." Sora replied honestly. He loved talking about Riku.

"No. Not those types of records. I mean the confidential ones. The ones with personal information like hospital visits and injuries or sicknesses."

"But those are confidential. I can't look at them or find them online. I would have to hack into the school and hospital system." Sora answered he had thought this was going somewhere but it turned out to just be another dead end.

"Sora; doesn't your mother work at the hospital? Ask her to help you." Kadaj spoke softly trying to assure Sora that he could do it. But something about Sephiroth's voice unnerved Sora.

"Alright I'll try."

"I'll talk to you again."

"Wait!" Sora yelled into the phone, "Does the curse have anything to do with the poem Dead Men Tell No Tales? You know the one about the Dead Man." Sora spoke so quickly he wasn't even sure Kadaj understood a word he said.

"You're a very smart boy. Any more questions?"

"Well actually…" Sora blushed at the compliment and faltered in his sentence. "What is a dying moon that breaks?"

"Occasionally a full moon is called a dying moon because even though it is at it's fullest it is dying, using all its strength to be bright for one or two nights and then to die. Every morning the moon breaks up against the horizon as the sun rises up to claim its throne. In fact tonight is a full moon, just like the night Riku died."

Sora nodded; there was another part of the curse solved. "Riku said some weird things to me. Random weird things, things like 'the final act is always bloodiest no matter how fine the play'. And he said that when we're born we start to decay, he also said something about ravens and 'nevermore'. And 'we could live secretly away from your society'. What does all this mean?"

"Some would call it the ramblings of a madman. Others would call it self-pity. But in Riku's case it's just another form of art. Words inspired him more than images did. He drew what he heard. He has a drawing for every quote he was inspired by. Any thing that sparked a reaction in him he considered important. He thinks I don't know that he used to draw such disturbing images. But I knew, I saw him drawing them one day and he left his secret art book out on his bed and I looked through it. I always loved his images. But…" Kadaj's voice drifted off as he reminisced.

"But?" Sora prompted.

"But these drawings, they were just so… hideous. They were beautiful hideous works of art. They were the type of images only draw by the deranged. Images of torture and violence, there were pictures of murder and suicide. But they were just macabre scribbles on paper, they all held so much symbolism in them that I barely understood the image when I tried to look deeper." Kadaj was silent for a moment and Sora's breath caught in his throat.

"Where are these drawings?"

"I hid them. After Riku died I hid them under the floorboards of my bedroom so that my parents wouldn't find them. I didn't want them to see the pictures. They were too beautiful and strange for my parents to comprehend, I was afraid my parents would hate them." Kadaj sighed. "Or maybe I was afraid they would like them as much as I did.

Sora didn't say anything.

"You should just be able to pry the floorboard up with your hands, it's the only loose one."

"Thank you." Was Sora's strangled reply.

"Sora, I'm sorry about all this. I believe though that you will find out the truth." Kadaj hung up the phone with a click and Sora was left with a phone connected to a dial tone.

He slowly hung up the phone and rubbed his eyes.

Sora sat back on his heels as he tried to pry up another floorboard. He was in Sephiroth's room, the second largest bedroom in the house. The only larger bedroom was the one his mother had. The bed sitting against the east wall had to be Sephiroth's bed because it was one of the many pieces of furniture his mother had kept in its original place.

All personal belongings were gone; the only thing remaining in the empty shell of a room was the wallpaper, bed and dresser. His mother had changed the lamp near the bedside and had placed a vase full of fake flowers next to it. Other than that the room had been unchanged for almost thirty years.

Sora tried to pry up another floorboard and yelled in frustration when it like the thirty others he had tried, didn't budge. Cursing to himself he moved onto the next one and stuck the crowbar in the crack between the boards and started to jimmy it up and down. It budged slightly.

Suspicious Sora put more pressure on the crowbar and the floorboard popped out with a slight groan. Underneath there was a flat piece of regular unfinished wood. Soras then proceeded to pry up the next three floorboards in order to lift up the wood. When Sora's mother came home she would not be happy to see what had happened to her prized wood floor.

With a grunt Sora managed to lift up the wood and set it on the floor next to him. Inside the small space was a large mahogany box. It was clearly expensive and prized and was so heavy Sora could hardly lift it to get it out of its hiding spot.

There was no lock on the box even though a box like this was meant to have one. The lid was incrusted in silver and written in beautiful script was the name Riku. Sora opened the box and put his fingers in cautiously as he pulled out an old drawing book. The cover was plain and black except for the name Riku written in calligraphy. A foreboding feeling fell over Sora, as he felt sure that what ever he was about to see he wasn't supposed to.

The first ten pages of the book were blank and Sora guessed it was to try and fool people into thinking the whole book was blank. But Sora knew better than that and turned pages until he found one with pencil markings on it.

It was a rough sketch of a drawing.

In the center was an expressionless boy dragging a man and a woman by the hair across a bloody floor littered with severed body parts. Behind the boy were two more pairs of hands. The first pair was holding a cat and a dog by the collar and the other pair of arms was holding a speakerphone and a Japanese sword. Sora stared at it for a long time as he remembered what Kadaj had said about symbolism.

Slowly the images started to mean something to Sora. The scrawny boy pulling the two people along was weak but he still managed to drag fully grown humans on the ground, which suggested to Sora that the boy represented a special type a power. A power he held over the man and the woman. Both man and woman were covered by blood but looked unharmed. That lead Sora to believe the blood on the ground and on the people came from the severed body parts on the floor. He could only wonder who it was on the floor.

Sora turned the page and on the back of it was Riku's scrawl saying 'don't look back just keep walking on'. Sora wondered were Riku had heard that phrase.

On the next page was the picture again, this time it was the finished version and was painted. Nothing was written on the back of it.

The next drawing was again a rough sketch of a man's back and something was carved into his back but Sora couldn't make out what it said. Quickly he flipped the page but nothing was written on the back of this one. After that sketch there was the finished painting done in red tones. This time Sora could make out what was written into the man's back. It said, 'My broken heart'. This one made absolutely no sense to Sora. He couldn't tell anything from the picture but suddenly it struck him maybe the characters were also representing Riku and his emotions. He flipped back to the last painting; the boy could represent Riku's feelings about the power Sephiroth held over two people. Maybe it was their parents? Sora nodded to himself maybe Riku felt Sephiroth was hogging all his parent's affection and attention. Maybe what was left of Riku was on the floor, ignored he just decayed to pieces.

The painting of the man's back confused Sora still; he didn't know anything about Riku's love life. Hell, he didn't even know Riku had a love life. A lover might not have even caused the broken heart; maybe someone else close to Riku had hurt him? Sora's mind flashed back to the apology card Riku had given to his father that was hanging up in the attic. Had his father hurt him?

Sora moved on to the next rough sketch and that was one of a couple sitting at a table and behind them were teenagers gasping and pointing fingers at the girl. Looks of horror and disgust were on the teenagers' faces. The boy sitting at the table was slouched and tightly holding onto a rope that was strung along the top of the picture and connected to the girl's neck in a noose. The girl was straining across the table towards the boy, but he ignored her. The girl's long hair was everywhere, across the table, flung over the sides of the booth and twisted up the noose in dark strands. Hooks were embedded into her back and attaching her to her chair. Sora quickly turned the page and felt the bile rush up his throat and only by sheer will did he keep himself from vomiting. The painting was in shades of grays and black, the only color was the blood. On the bottom of the page was written, 'I begged you to keep it a secret'.

Once again confusion overwhelmed Sora about the picture's true meaning. He didn't think it was as simple as that Riku was the boy in the couple. Riku seemed more like the girl. The way she was straining for something reminded Sora of the way Riku strived to be better than Sephiroth. But the phrase about keeping secrets made Sora think the girl' secret was betrayed by the boy, which explained why all the people were staring at her in disgust.

Did that mean that Riku had told someone something important? Riku was betrayed and soon everyone found out and hated him for it. Could that be the meaning behind the line in the Dead Man's poem about betrayal?

Sora looked through the rest of the book pretty quickly but from after the girl's picture all the images were full of self-hate and loathing. In all the pictures were beautiful people but on the inside, they were ugly. The scenes behind the people showed acts of violence and hatred and Sora wondered if Riku had drawn these characters to represent real people.

Sora put the box and wood back in place and fixed the floorboards, but he kept the art book. He slipped it under his pillow on his bed. Then he picked up the phone and dialed the hospital's number and asked to be patched through to his mother.

After a couple of minutes Sora's mother answered the phone. "Sora, honey what's the matter?" Aerith spoke her voice worried. Her son never called her unless he had a problem.

"Actually Mom, I'm pretty fine. It's just I need to know something and I think you might be able to help me." Sora spoke soothingly to his mother, he didn't need her to get worried and rush home to him.

"What do you need sweetie?"

"I need to know about Riku and Sephiroth Jenova's hospital records."

There was pause on the other line. "Honey, you know I can't tell you about patient's records. It's against the nurse's code."

"Mom, please it's really important." Sora pleaded.

"Well, I don't know anything about them. Would you like me to ask around and see what the other nurses know?"

"Well you see the last hospital records would have been from about thirty years ago. I don't know if you have anyone who's been there that long."

Aerith hummed to herself. "There is one nurse, she started working here about thirty-five years ago. She might know about them. Here I'll go ask. Just hold on."

Sora let out a sigh of relief, he couldn't believe his mother was actually going to help him and that there was someone there who might have known Sephiroth and Riku.

"Hello? This is Amy." A woman's voice said and Sora could hear the old age in the voice.

"Hi, this is Sora Hikari, Aerith's son."

"Ah, yes she told me to speak to you, she said you had some questions." Amy spoke in a kind elderly voice that reminded Sora of his grandmother.

"Do you happen to know Riku and Sephiroth Jenova?"

"Son, who doesn't know them? Those two boys were so talented, and that Sephiroth was perfect. Riku though, he was a troublemaker. What do you need to know about them?"

"I need to know about hospital records for the two of them."

"There would only be records for Riku I'm afraid. You see Sephiroth was only at the hospital the day he was born and when he went to visit Riku. Riku was always hurting himself, always breaking bones, exhausting himself till he dropped and why once he even came in with a stab wound! He said he stabbed himself accidentally, but I'm almost certain he did it to himself. In fact I'm sure he hurt himself on purpose." Amy snorted after she spoke.

"But why would he do that to himself on purpose?" Sora asked.

"He may have done it for the attention or maybe he just liked to inflict pain on himself. Some people slit their wrists and some people break their bones on purpose. What they do to themselves is determined by personality you see."

"Oh I understand. Is there anything else? Did he come to this hospital the night he died?" All this information wasn't helping Sora at all. It was just making everything more complicated.

"Well he did come in a few times and we diagnosed him with depression, he was on medicine for a while but came off it about a year before he died. He seemed happier after that, we didn't see him at the hospital for almost a year, which was surprising because he used to come very often. The last time he ever came to hospital was in a body bag to the morgue in the basement. He didn't even get an autopsy, the police seemed to be convinced that nice Sephiroth had killed his own brother." The woman spoke in a sad voice, it was clear she felt bad for both boys, but like Sora had her suspicions.

Sora nodded again and furrowed his brows in concentration, that nagging feeling was coming back. "You don't think that Sephiroth killed his brother?"

"Think, Sora why I'm certain! That Sephiroth was such a nice young man he always volunteered to help us nurses out. In fact we even took him up on his offer a few times, such a hard worker! He said he wanted to become a doctor and before he was thrown in prison he got a job here as a nurse's aid. He just always wanted to help. He even told me he was worried about his brother in the days before Riku died. Sephiroth mentioned something about disturbing images but I never got to ask him what he meant."

"Why?"

"Because after that he was thrown in jail and died."

"I see. I'm sorry for bothering you."

"No problem at all Sora. I would love to talk to you again soon."

"Me too. Good-bye Ma'am."

Sora hung up the phone gently and the tears rolled down his cheek and hit the floor. The more he learned the less he understood. Sora was almost certain he wouldn't live to see another day.

Sora had sat dazed on his bed trying to think for almost an hour. His gaze strayed over to his alarm clock and he realized it was almost midnight. Only a half an hour left to live. That was unless he solved this impossible riddle.

It was like a soap opera but in real life. Riku's story was full of death, depression, heartbreak and betrayal.

The only option Sora had left because he couldn't solve this question on his own was to ask for help from Kadaj. So he picked up the phone and searched through his caller ID till he found Kadaj's phone number. He redialed it and held his breath as he waited for Kadaj to pick up.

"Hello?" Instead of Kadaj picking up it was another young man who sounded like he had just woken up.

"Um… Hi. I was just calling to talk to Kadaj." Sora said quietly, he was starting to feel shy again.

"Oh, this is Yazoo. I'm Kadaj's younger brother. Here I'll give him the phone, he's been sitting in front of the window looking at the moon since he called you last. He's been acting very strange lately. Maybe you can help?"

"I'll try." Sora whispered as tears threatened to spill. He knew Kadaj was acting strange because of Sephiroth, he also knew there was no way he could help.

Sora could hear Yazoo speaking to Kadaj in the background but all the noise was incoherent to Sora and he only caught snatches of conversation.

"Sora. Are you all right?" Kadaj's worried voice came over the speaker and filled Sora's ears.

"No. I'm not. I'm going to die! I can't break this goddamned curse! I have no clue what to do. Please help me!" Sora yelled into the phone as he rubbed his tears away.

"Sora calm down. Everything will be just fine. Now, did you get the hospital records?"

"No, but I talked to someone who told me some interesting things about Riku and Sephiroth. She said Sephiroth was never emitted into the hospital for any injuries, but Riku was there very often for broken bones and stuff. The nurse also said she thought Riku was very suspicious. Thought Riku hurt himself on purpose." Sora said slowly as he went over the newest facts he had learned with Kadaj.

"See, there's one more piece of the puzzle solved."

"But if Riku was depressed and all this stuff, why isn't it in the newspaper? How come there are so few articles on this? I mean not too many people get murdered here, so when one does it's pretty big news."

"That is a good question and one I can answer. You see Riku and Sephiroth's parents were so embarrassed by Riku and all his hospital visits that they tried to keep it on the down low and didn't tell too many people. Officially if you look there is no record of Riku's hospital visits after he is born. He looked perfectly normal to the police, only a few inside people in the hospital knew how often Riku was really there. You see; Riku's parents paid the hospital to not keep records. The police never knew about Riku's art or his depression."

"O.k. that kind of explains why it seemed so cut and clear to the police that you killed Riku. But, did your parent's really believe you killed your brother?" Sora asked.

"They were too blind to realize what really happened, I was the perfect scapegoat for all their emotions. Deep down I'm certain they knew it wasn't me. Which is why when the bail was posted they didn't pay a single cent to help me. They left me to die in jail and went on to mourn and soon forget Riku. One day they just up and moved, I think back to Japan. But those are just rumors they could be in Wisconsin." Kadaj gripped, he didn't sound as angry as Sora thought he would be.

Sora sighed, "I still don't know what really happened. Did your parent's kill Riku? Did someone else kill Riku?"

"My parent's couldn't have killed Riku, they were out at a party. You are getting closer though, but you still have no suspects. Come on, it's just like the game Clue. You know the when, the where and the how but you don't know whom."

"I always sucked at that game." Sora grumbled and Kadaj laughed good-naturedly.

"Just go over the facts you know are true. Riku was killed in his bathroom sometime around midnight. Riku was found mutilated and hanging from the ceiling. I was also found at the scene. My parent's weren't there and couldn't have done it. There were no signs of forced entry on the house. So who does that leave left?"

"Almost everyone in the frigging town. Maybe we shouldn't focus on who killed Riku anymore. I looked at Riku's art, and I think something happened to Riku before he died. You know the picture with the couple sitting at the table?" Sora suddenly started to warm up to his idea, maybe this could help him get a suspect.

"Of course, and the people behind the couple pointing."

"Well, who was it that could have broken Riku's heart?" He hated to think that Riku could be in love with anyone but himself, even if it was only wishful thinking that Riku liked him.

"Riku was never in any relationships really. He dated a few girls but he never really had a girlfriend, he wasn't interested in love. Or at least I think he wasn't. But before Riku died he and my father had a terrible fight and they didn't speak to each other for a while. Eventually they made up, but my father really hurt Riku."

"What was the fight about?"

"…"

"Oh, the curse. You can't tell me."

"No, but Riku defiantly could. You just have to ask him." Kadaj assured him.

"But Riku's been acting strange, well… stranger than usual. I don't think he'll tell me because he said he wanted the curse to get me. He said he wanted to be with me forever." Sora whispered.

"He's only kidding himself, he really likes you. He just won't tell you. Riku doesn't want you to be hurt. He's probably mad because you've been talking to me. Riku is probably sulking right now. You see Riku's always been paranoid that I'll take everything he cherishes away from him. It started when I dated the girl he had a crush on. Riku's afraid that I'll take you from him, so the only way he thinks he can keep you is by taking you where I can't get you. Riku can tend to get very over protective." Kadaj chuckled at that last sentence but it seemed hollow and without emotion.

"You don't think he really wants me to die do you?"

"I think he desperately wants you to live but just won't tell you."

"Why doesn't he just tell me what happened himself?" Sora groaned. "I can't stand this guessing game anymore!"

"The curse is a big factor but so is his ego. He won't tell you what really happened without a fight. Riku can be so stupid and pig headed sometimes.

"Wait can we go back to the Dead Man's poem for a second. I still don't really understand it."

"Well I've told you that you have all the answers in front of you. The Dead Man's poem doesn't tell you what happened it's really just about how we can't speak about the curse. It's sort of like background information." Kadaj explained.

"Ok, but the only line I don't understand now is about the 'barges with blood red sails'. Well besides that I don't understand which one of you was betrayed."

"I can't tell you what the barges with blood red sails means but if you are observant enough I'm sure you can just figure it out. Look closely at your surroundings."

"This frigging sucks. Can't I get told anything up front or is everyone cursed into silence around here! How am I supposed to do this! I'm not like frigging Sherlock Holmes over here I'm just Sora Hikari. How am I supposed to figure out what happened thirty years ago?" Sora bemoaned.

"I don't know but I think you can figure it out. Just remember you only have a few hours left, it's already eleven o'clock and all the problems always start at midnight." Kadaj reminded him.

"What time did Riku die?" Sora whispered, he was asking a question he really didn't want answered. Sora had almost totally convinced himself that he was going to die he just didn't know when.

"I started hearing odd noises at midnight and around one or two I went upstairs and found him. He wasn't pronounced dead till about sun rise though. Which was at six." Kadaj replied as of he had it memorized for a test.

"You don't know the exact time of death?"

"Even if I did I couldn't tell you that."

"Goddamn this whole thing." Sora swore.

Kadaj sighed, "I'm so sorry this is happening Sora. I can't believe Riku would do this to you. He won't tell you how to solve the curse and he didn't even stop you from finding the necklace in the first place. And cursing really doesn't become you by the way."

"Wait you mean he could have stopped me from finding the necklace and getting cursed"  
"One would assume so."

"I hate him."

"No you don't, even I know how much you love him." Kadaj laughed quietly but only for a second. Sora sighed and yawned, Kadaj must have heard it. "Well I should go before I completely tire you out. Any last questions before I go?"

"Any hints?" Sora complained.

"The last act is always bloody no matter how fine the play."

Before Sora could respond Kadaj had hung up and once again he was left talking to a dial tone. Sora moved to hang up the phone in it's dock when he realized he wasn't in his bedroom anymore, he was in the bathroom.

Sora furrowed his eyebrows together trying to remember when he had gotten up and walked to the bathroom. He must have been so distracted with talking that he hadn't noticed. With a sigh Sora ran his hand through his messy spikes and stood up. His gaze slowly drifted over to the wallpaper.

The room seemed to spin all around Sora and for a second as he started at the ships on the wallpaper he could have sworn that they had blood red sails. He ran screaming into his bedroom; shaking, he tried to hastily hide under the bedcovers. Tears ran down his face as he realized he now only needed to know who was betrayed to understand the whole poem. Everything was falling into place.

Sora lifted his head from under the blankets as he realized that when he was little he felt betrayed by his father's death. He felt his father died to get away from him.

Quietly Sora wondered if Sephiroth felt betrayed by Riku's death.

End – A Dying Moon

Arty – Wow, I only have one more full chapter to write! I'm ¾ of the way done! I'm so happy I've never made it this far in a story. Well the next chapter is The Truth in Blood. Please stay tuned.


	4. The Truth in Blood

Hang Me High Kid

By: FearlessDranzer

Disclaimers – I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters that appear in this fan fiction. The only thing that is mine is this plot. I know, I'm not doing too well…

Chapter 4 – The Truth in Blood

Sora rubbed a tear off his cheek and than another as they rolled down his face in an unending stream. Taking off his necklace Sora couldn't help but to stare at it for a few seconds with a look of contempt. This damn necklace had started it all. Every single one of his problems had spawned from this necklace. He was going to die tonight and the cause would be because he found a simple necklace that happened to be cursed.

He wondered to himself whether or not he should start writing a will and if he would leave a good-bye note to his mother. But if he left a good-bye note it would look like suicide.

"This is all so stupid! Why do I have to figure out why some guy died thirty years ago? And why do I have to die all because he's so selfish that he can't think of other's feelings before his own. I just can't believe this. It's all like some sort of cruel joke, but it's all real." Sora continued to sob and scream. It was easy to hate Riku when one didn't have to look at him.

Riku, Riku, RIKU! It was always about him, always! Why couldn't he… why couldn't he be perfect? Why couldn't love always be like Sora had imagined it? Instead he was in love with Riku Heart Jenova.

There were a few things wrong with that, Riku was dead, had been for thirty years, he's trying to drag Sora down with him, he's madder than a hatter and couldn't get any deader.

Sora really knew how to pick 'em.

Sora let out a strangled yell and hurled is necklace as hard as he could and towards the wall. A pale hand reached out and caught the necklace before it could hit anything.

"Temper, temper my friend."

"I'm not your friend." Sora lied. He could feel his heart flutter because Riku was back. He hated it, but one can't control their heart no matter how hard they try.

"What's the matter? Why are you so upset?" Riku ask he sat down on the bed next to Sora. He handed the necklace back to Sora who put it around his neck with a frown.

"What do you mean 'what's the matter'? You know damn well _what's the matter_. And you know why I'm upset too." Sora pouted, cursing again. Cursing was so unlike him that it made the scene almost comical. But as of late, Sora had been cursing a lot and he only cursed when he was really upset.

"I have to admit, I'm probably the cause of it. It's nice to have so much sway over your feelings. I'll take it that it means you care." Riku said with a smirk.

"I don't understand how you can kid around at a time like this."

Riku's face took on a more serious expression. "I'll right, I'll help you. Why don't we start with you telling me everything you've learned since the last time we talked? Sometimes in order what to figure out what to do next, all you need to do is go over what you already know."

"I learned you're very disturbed."

"Such a kind boy."

"I know you had a terrible fight with your father."

"Yes."

"About what?"

Riku was silent for a minute, he played with his fingers, but he wasn't really paying attention to what he was doing. "I don't… he I thought I was in love with another boy. He got mad but we made up later."

"What happened, why were you being pointed at in the picture?"

Riku turned his head towards Sora and blinked twice very slowly. "He told, he told everyone I was a fag and they began to hate me. They whispered about me when I walked down the hallway, I could tell they were always staring at me. He was supposed to keep it a secret." Riku spoke softly and a strange look came over him. It was like he was looking through Sora, like he couldn't see him.

Maybe he was looking at someone else?

"Who?"

"The Boy."

Sora didn't speak; he didn't know what to say. He knew what it was like to get your heart broken. Girls had turned him down before; he knew that his worst heartbreak was happening now though. Who wants to hear about your crush's past loves?

"It doesn't matter now, that was all in the past."

"It matters, your death was in the past and it matters! How can you say that something else doesn't matter?"

Riku smiled softly. "It doesn't matter to you though does it? The only reason you care is because I've forced you to care. Because if you don't care, you'll die"

Sora didn't say anything, he knew what Riku was saying wasn't true but he couldn't bring himself to say it..

"Well if you're not going to reply, why don't you tell me what else you've learned."

"You got hurt often."

"Yes, I was quite danger-prone as a child." Riku laughed good-naturedly but Sora stared, the nurse's suspicions coming back to him suddenly.

"I understand what the Dead Man's poem means."

"Do tell."

"Your curse tells the story of your death. Those ships on the bathroom's wallpaper were once dyed blood red, with your blood. When the sun comes up my heart will break. And Sephiroth and you are fallen heroes who've been betrayed. You betrayed Sephiroth." Sora said.

"You've been talking to Sephiroth again haven't you?"

"It's not actually Sephiroth, your brother died in jail almost thirty years ago. Kadaj is the one who I talked to."

Riku was silent and Sora could tell he was feeling regret and guilt, it was written all over his features. Neither spoke, but in the end it was Sora who broke the silence.

"Sephiroth didn't kill you."

The grandfather clock chimed midnight.

Sora looked over to the window, away from Riku, away from anything that reminded him that his time was short. But he couldn't help it. The tears flowed freely down his face, it was quiet crying, the kind you didn't even realize you were doing until it was too late.

"I'm going to die." He mumbled.

Riku reached out and grabbed Sora and pulled him towards his body roughly. He held Sora to him like a lifeline and kissed him hard enough to bruise. Than he pulled away and looked Sora in the eyes, this time he kissed Sora slowly and passionately. The kiss held a promise, a promise of what was to come.

Riku touched the side of Sora's face. "No you won't." His eyes searched Sora's hungrily searching for anything, grasping at straws. ""You have all the answers you need right in front of you. Every single answer, you just have to put them together the right way. Oh Sora, you're so very close. I almost don't want you to figure it out." Riku all but whispered the last sentence.

Sora pushed away from Riku's embrace, his face held defeat. "I don't know, I just don't know." Sora could feel the minutes slipping away as he stood wasting time. Suddenly Sora felt sick to his stomach and he knew he couldn't take it any longer.

He took off running and barely made it to his bathroom. Faintly he could hear Riku yelling for him, but he ignored it. He bent over the toilet and retched his guts up. But it wasn't partially digest food and bile that came out, it was blood. Thick and red spilling into the water and tainting it. Sora saw what was happening and pulled away.

The blood flowed over the sides over the toilet as more and more of it appeared. The blood started coming towards him with a deadly intent. The toilet was a massive bleeding thing and Sora realized it wasn't just the toilet.

He scrambled backwards groping for the wall and for some support. A shudder ran through him as he looked across the walls and saw all the blood splatter. It was painted across the walls in a most artistic way and the white of the walls made the blood look even more sinister.

But that was wrong. His bathroom walls weren't white, they were blue. This was his bathroom, but it wasn't _his _; it was Riku's bathroom. It was _Riku's_ bathroom.

Sora felt his heart in his throat and his breathing grew rushed and shallow, he started to hyperventilate. The blood was everywhere…

He was in Riku's bathroom, with blood splattered across the walls. He was in Riku's bathroom the night that he _died_.

There was a pounding on the door that Sora didn't remember closing or locking. It was Riku screaming. He was yelling at Sora. Telling him not to… not to look. That it wasn't true. None of it was real.

But Sora knew all too horribly well that this was real, especially when he saw a still-living Riku lying on the ceramic floor five feet from him.

The living Riku was covered in cuts and gashes, obviously the blood everywhere was his own. It leaked from him at the slightest movement and he didn't seem to care as he watched his life run out of him with every breath. Blood was smeared all over his face as he used his bloody hands to brush his hair out of his eyes. It was streaked through his silver hair like highlights. Sora felt cold as he looked, he wanted to throw up again.

So much… blood…

_The last act is always bloody no matter how fine the play._

He watched as the living Riku picked up a kitchen knife and held it over his stomach. Sora realized what was about to happen and screamed bloody murder. But it was too late, thirty years to late.

Riku stabbed himself with the knife and attempted to gut himself but he was clumsy from blood loss and the knife slipped from his blood-coated fingers. Giving up on that method of suicide he pulled himself over towards the sink and used the cabinets and counter to pull himself up. He lost his balance and leaned forwards, catching himself on the mirror and leaving two bloody handprints. They stained the glass with their redness and slowly drops slid down towards the sink.

To Sora's left there was a moan and some anguished noises. It was Riku, the dead Riku. He just lay on the floor shaking and holding his head in his hands. He was mumbling something and Sora couldn't make it out. He didn't want to know.

Riku shook and started to scream, he was yelling at Sora, yelling at his living self and yelling at his own death. He pulled and chunks of silver hair hit the floor and lay limp in pools of blood.

Quite obviously Riku had lost it. Sora wasn't even sure if at this point he'd had anything left to lose.

"Oh God no." The dead Riku groaned.

The living Riku was fumbling with a towel and he rubbed the drying blood off his face. The towel was printed with little sailboats with now red sails.

"I'll get you Sephiroth. I swear to fucking god I'll get you." The living Riku croaked out his threats.

Riku shoved his hand into his stomach wound and he didn't wince when he hand came out dripping. He used his blood like ink and wrote a message on the mirror. He kept writing and kept shoving his hands in his wounds and Sora wondered when he would stop. Would he stop before he ran out of blood or would he finish writing before that? Suddenly he stopped with a sigh, he was out of breathe and panting heavily.

Sora couldn't see what the mirror said from where he was on the floor, Riku's body blocked most of the message.

Riku reached for something, a rope. He fumbled with it but finally his weakened hand closed around it.

And the screams resumed as Ghost Riku begged himself to stop.

But he didn't stop, he couldn't stop. He threw the rope up and over a pipe near the ceiling. He then slowly and painstakingly tied a knot around the toilet to weight it, the other side was already tied into a crude noose.

"Stop! Stop it already. He knows, for fuck's sake he knows! Don't do this!" Riku screamed from the floor.

Sora watched on in horror and disgust, he knew what was going to happening and yet he still couldn't look away. It was like watching a train wreck. Riku climbed back on top of the sink and reached for the rope hanging ominously above like a deranged chandelier.

Riku put the rope around his neck.

The door burst open.

Sephiroth ran over to Riku, pleading with him. Telling him to stop and be reasonable. Riku responded with a Cheshire grin. Sephiroth saw now that it was useless to argue, his brother was too far gone mentally. Sephiroth tried to grab Riku but he was kicked away viciously. All the breath was knocked from Sephiroth's lungs and he lay on the ground motionless for a few agonizing seconds.

Slowly he got to his knees.

Not to be refused, Sephiroth reached over and grabbed the discarded knife and tried to saw away at the rope around the toilet.

"Sephiroth! Oh God, Sephiroth! Help me please! Help, you're my big brother…" Riku moaned from the floor. His eyes were transfixed and he made know move to help his past self. Even in a deranged state, some part of Riku knew it was useless to try.

Riku adjusted the noose around his neck and looked down at Sephiroth who was hurriedly trying to cut off the rope, but a kitchen knife wasn't meant for that type of use. "I hate you." Sephiroth looked up briefly but didn't stop sawing. In fact he started to saw faster and harder.

"Dead men tell no tales."

He jumped.

His neck snapped, cutting his spinal cord in half causing instant death. His body didn't even have enough time to register the pain.

Slowly blood dripped from him stomach and other numerous cuts and fell to the floor forming a rapidly growing puddle.

Blood from hours old cuts continued to dry and cake his clothes to his dead body.

A metallic smell hung in the air.

And it was quiet except for the dripping blood.

Sephiroth sat frozen two feet away from his dead brother, knife still in his hand. He dropped it with a clatter and reached for his brother with a sob.

Sora looked away from the body and Sephiroth, he couldn't take the sight of them anymore. And something on the mirror caught his eye.

It was Riku's message;

_Dead Men Tell No Tales _

_They say that dead men tell no tales!_

_Except of barges with blood red sails._

_Except of dying moons that break_

_The hearts of lads who lie awake;_

_And heroes crumbled and betrayed._

_Old tales of life; love and hate,_

_Of time and space, and will, and fate._

Everything made sense. The Dead Man's Poem, Riku made it up and wrote it on the mirror the night he died. How it became a jump rope song Sora would never know. In a sense Riku had made himself into an urban legend. Created his own story that would make him infamous on Destiny Island for years to come.

"Stop."

Riku spoke and suddenly they were back in Sora's bathroom. His nice, clean, blue bathroom with fluffy white and green towels.

Sora didn't move.

It was Riku who crawled towards him. It was Riku who apologized to him as a screaming mess. It was Riku's tears that fell on his face.

"Sora, I didn't mean it. I didn't mean it. I didn't know… if Sephiroth had minded his damn business this whole thing would have never happened. He never would have gotten blamed for my murder. If he hadn't come in… his fingerprints wouldn't be everywhere…. But he had to be the fucking hero. And look what happened to him." Riku moaned.

Sora shook his head and backed away out of the other boy's grip. "Sephiroth wasn't blamed for your murder… he was blamed for your suicide." Sora choked out. He tried to hold back what he was feeling, but he was numb and it was like he was moving through a dream. Everything was slow motion and so strange, yet made perfect sense.

"You're the murderer."

"No! Please no!"

"Why?"

"I was tired! I was tired of being second best. I was sick and tired of him being so fucking great. Everything I did, he did better. I couldn't touch him! It was like he was God! Everyone thought he was so great. Everyone thought Sephiroth could do no wrong. Ha! The one thing he couldn't do was save me. I was the one person who really needed him but he was too late." Riku laughed bitterly. "I'm tired of not being loved. I want someone to love me like everyone loved Sephiroth."

"Your brother loved you."

Riku shook his head. "It's not just him." And Sora's mind raced through potential candidates whose love Riku coveted; his parents, that _boy's_… maybe his own.

Sora didn't say anything. Riku didn't love him. He was probably still in love with that boy from thirty years ago. If he loved Sora, he wouldn't be doing this to him. He wouldn't be ripping Sora apart inside and out. Besides you shouldn't love someone who killed themselves.

…Right?

"Sora…" Sora looked up, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean…" Tears choked Riku's throat. "I love you Sora."

Sora could feel his heart beat faster and he let himself wonder for a second if it was really true, if he wasn't just hearing things. Finally! Finally, he would hear said to him what he always wanted to hear. And sadly he realized, Riku was the only person he wanted it said from. This suicidal, crazed and mentally deranged teenager was the only one who loved Sora. And Sora was ok with that.

He was alright with the fact that Riku killed himself, dragged Sephiroth down with him and had attempted to do the same with himself. Love truly is blind. Especially when it comes to matters of morality.

"I really mean it Sora. I--I've loved you for a long time, ever since… ever since you put my necklace on. You were so beautiful and you were so happy; you were happy for the first time since your father died. I think about you all the time Sora. All the-fucking-time. I don't want to be without you. We were meant to be I know it. You were meant to find that locket Sora. This was meant to be." Riku reached out and touched along the side of Sora's face tentatively. Like he was petting a scared animal. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I've hurt you and frightened you. I just wanted us to be together. And I didn't stop to think. I thought in death we'd be together."

He was afraid, afraid of denial. Big Bad Riku was afraid that Sora might reject him.

Dried tears left streaks down Riku's face and his lovely sea green eyes were red rimmed. And yet he was still beautiful in a sad way. Sora leaned his head into Riku's touch as his mind barely registered what Riku said. Maybe if he had listened he would have realized Riku's love was more like a sick obsession.

Riku leaned in and kissed Sora on the corner of the mouth.

"Eight long years." Riku said with a chuckle. "Eight long years."

"_Except of dying moons that break the hearts of lads who lie awake_."

Riku kissed Sora softly on the lips, "I won't let that happen."

"But it shouldn't happen. I did it! I found out how you died. The curse it's… it's broken!" Sora spoke excitedly.

Riku looked sad and he shook his head. "It's mad now. It doesn't care that you found out the truth, it still wants your soul. And what it wants, it gets."

Sora's crown necklace started to glow like a blinding light. And suddenly Sora knew what was going to happen. "No. No, no, no." Tears started to fall from Sora's eyes. He'd kept them in so long. "Don't leave me. You can't leave me… not now. I still have too many questions. Please." He whispered. "I don't care what happens, Riku don't leave me."

"Riku please don't. I---I love you too."

"I'm so sorry. Sorry for everything."

Riku kissed Sora on the forehead and the room started to go dark.

The last thing Sora remembered before he blacked out was Riku's voice saying, "Everything will be all right."

_And we could live secretly, away from your society._

End - The Truth in Blood

Arty - Wow, this is a short chapter. Especially compared to my other ones. Well this is it, the last full chapter. The next is the epilogue. And after the epilogue I will try to answer everyone's questions as best as I can and hopefully there won't be too many. I'll also answer a few plot holes that have been brought to my attention. And thanks to my lovely beta, PunkRocker505!

Please stay tuned!

It's so close to being over!

Next Chapter - Epilogue


	5. Epilogue

Hang Me High Kid

By: FearlessDranzer

Disclaimer- I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters that appear in this fan fiction. The only thing that is mine is this plot.

Epilogue

Sora had stopped crying a while ago.

It was almost like the calm before the storm hits. He had managed to hold it in for so long but even the strongest man cries.

He felt empty, like he wasn't really moving forward in his life anymore. It seemed like a chunk of him had suddenly gone missing, but he wasn't aware it was gone. He thought maybe Riku's sudden disappearance would make life easier for him, like it had been before his sudden appearance. But it didn't.

It was this feeling that had led Sora to the cemetery, had led him to bypass Riku's grave, Sephiroth's grave and their parent's graves. Instead he wandered back through the years until he found the grave of his father, underneath an oak tree dropping its leaves.

He hadn't been there in years, something about it had warned him away. He had no desire to face the father he had lost so suddenly, the father that his mother still cried over when she thought he was sleeping. The man she sometimes mistook Sora for. At one point Sora had hated his father for what he had done to them, but lately all he felt was sadness.

But today, he missed his father, just like any other kid would.

How many times would death affect him in his young life? How many times could a person lose someone they loved to eternal rest? How long before he would lose himself?

He hadn't even brought flowers but it was all right, his mother had left some earlier in the week. Sora sat there, leaning against his father's headstone for a while until he started to talk.

"You know Dad, I sometimes wonder how long it'll take before I kill myself.

It's funny but a week ago I wouldn't have thought you could love someone like that, lose them and feel so damn lost.

How could you fall in love with someone so fast? How could you do it without even knowing?

How could you love someone like him?

He killed himself, framed his brother for it, stalked me in my own home and then tried to kill me.

In the end his own anger killed him.

But he can't be all bad right? He didn't let me die; he protected me right?

But he was crazy… he wanted us to live together forever in death. I couldn't just leave Mom like that; she barely survived what happened to you.

And I didn't even love him back; at least I thought I didn't. But I'm not sure what I think sometimes. I think I was in love with him from the day I was born."

He was silent a moment.

"I believe from the day we are born we start to decay."

Sora glanced down at his father's grave and studied it for a while, it was made of marble, a white and blue color and etched beneath his father's name and date of birth and death was a quote.

_Happiness depends upon ourselves. _

It had a deep meaning for his father at one point, and had once held a deep meaning for Sora.

Now he wasn't so sure. Did one's happiness really depend on oneself? That other people had no effect in our lives? Then is it true that it is better to have loved and lost then to have never loved at all?

"I don't think so. Now that I've loved and lost I wish I had never loved at all.

How does one fall in love with a person like him?

How could I love him?

Maybe love really is blind. And that you can't change who you fall in love with.

I just wish he hadn't been a monster."

A brisk wind blew Sora's hair back and howled through the branches as it made leaves dance. Along the wind drifted the smell of burning wood, the smell of fall coming to pass and winter taking its place.

The ground was still wet in places where another storm had tried to wash away the agonies of Halloween night. It was a fruitless attempt.

"Could our dystopia really survive in a world where people are fake? Where we all hide behind the masks of normal people, but behind our masks we are ugly macabre creatures longing for all that makes us wicked and evil.

We live in an age of Industrial Suicide where everyday someone screams they 'just can't take it anymore'.

Sometimes I wonder why I'm still here, sadly I've discovered it's because everyone else is leaving and I won't give up quite so easily."

There was nothing but silence even the wind had died.

"I'm starting to sound like him."

"You say it like it's a bad thing."

Sora didn't move or even blink. His ethereal blue eyes had lost most of their shine and the skin underneath them had been dyed a blue-gray. His hair wasn't quite so glossy and his skin had lost some of its tan. His lose had taken a toll.

But as Sora slowly looked up something about him seemed to change. It was almost like he'd been given a glow that only people in love seemed to acquire. His blue eyes slowly blinked and gazed up into a pair of sea green.

"The last act is always bloody, but it's the finale that you always remember."

Riku reached down and offered a hand. Slowly and hesitantly Sora reached for it. When their hands connected he laced their fingers together and felt a strange warmth surge through his hand.

"Look at the way the wisteria dies…it's prettier than when it was alive."

Sora's laughter bubbled up threw his lips and he gazed upwards at Riku in adoration.

"How?" Was Sora's only question.

"I don't mind decaying anymore." He answered.

End - Hang Me High Kid

The title of this story was a compilation of the title of My Chemical Romance's "Give 'em Hell Kid" and a creation of this author's mind.

This story was based off the real poem "Dead Men Tell No Tales" and the Grudge's tagline. The plot is a figment of this author's imagination and thus shouldn't be stolen by others.

The story is slightly confusing so I tried to add some extra information at the end of this chapter to help you all out. Good Luck.

Riku represents a person in society tired of living behind his mask, when he tries to show who he really is he is hated for it and kills himself. He tries to take others down with him to get his revenge, but revenge wasn't quite so sweet for him. He's our tragic little hero.

Sora represents innocents in society and the corruption that seems to occur to us daily. We are never quite so pure as the day we are born.

This story can also showcase that what we do to people really has an effect on someone. Sure you might laugh today but will you be laughing tomorrow from the damage you've done?

What you do can affect others, you need to let go of your hatred and understand, not everything in life is perfect. Accept people for who they are and they'll accept you in turn.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not crusading for gay rights in a crap little story, I like to take my crusade to the national level. I'm just kidding. But in truth I've seen too much hatred towards gays to not be affected.

Writing this story during a hard period in my life helped to change my perspective of many things. I identified with both of my main characters but strangely enough I act more like Yuffie than other character. Maybe you'll take some lessons out of this story like I did, or maybe it's more for pleasure.

Hopefully this story has affected you like it has affected me and changed my life. Maybe we can one day follow the old proverb of 'Do unto others what you do unto yourself'.

Questions or comments? Please don't hesitate to send me a letter.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed during this story's lifetime and to all the people who have thought it worthy to add to their favorite's list.

The Sephiroth & Kadaj Affair 

Kadaj is Sephiroth, reincarnated I guess. Like in the Buddhist religion, people can come back and try to redeem themselves, which is Sephiroth's purpose for being sent back. He, at the point we met him, was in the changing process which explains why he was acting strange not exactly like Sephiroth.

He was totally done remembering who he was, but with the solution of Riku's problem, the change will halt and he'll be Kadaj again.

Of course Sephiroth wants to help Sora; he still loves his brother.

I hope that helped clear things up.

Riku's sayings 

"I don't mind decaying anymore."

Some confusion was expressed over this line. In the first chapter Riku states that, "From the day we live, we start to decay." And when he doesn't mind decaying anymore, he's just saying he doesn't mind living anymore. He never truly answers the question of how. Why? That would ruin the magic.

"Look at the way the wisteria dies…it's prettier than when it was alive."

In death he finds life and happiness, in the wisteria and in himself.

"The last act is always bloody, but it's the finale that you always remember."

Repeated throughout the story, and said by Grisom of CSI: Las Vegas, this quote effectively symbolizes the chapters in this story. The last chapter (4) was the bloody and violent one; the epilogue is what you'll always remember. The endings are the best part.

"Could our dystopia really survive … someone screams they 'just can't take it anymore'

Sora's little Riku quote that he says while speaking to his father, illustrates one of the main themes in this story, People hide behind masks and don't ever give up on yourself. Society might be shot to hell, but that doesn't mean you don't have chance.


End file.
